The Longest Day

Attribution: UA_Flight_175_hits_WTC_south_tower_9-11.jpeg: Flickr user TheMachineStops (Robert J. Fisch) derivative work: upstateNYer, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

By Geoff Carter

We all remember where we were that day twenty-five years ago. I was just getting to work. It was a normal day, a beautiful day. The school year was just beginning, and an air of optimism and freshness still hung in the air. When I arrived in our office, one of the other teachers had said she heard something about an accident in New York City, that a plane had struck a building. Then we started to get phone calls. (This was before the days of texting or streaming.) Something was going on. 

As the news kept rolling in, that a second World Trade Center tower been struck by a plane, that the Pentagon had been attacked, and that a fourth plane had crashed somewhere in Pennsylvania, we—the entire school—sat in stunned silence. We didn’t hear the usual sounds of the day, the kids laughing and yelling, or the morning announcements. Our principal did come on the P.A. later in the day to tell us that the World Trade Center towers had been struck by civilian passenger jets and had collapsed. He added that the Pentagon had been struck and another jet had crashed somewhere in Pennsylvania. The school was on lockdown, then dismissed early. The FAA ordered a halt to all air traffic. Everyone was to stay at their present location until further notice. No one knew whether we were at war, had suffered a series of terrorist attacks, who was responsible, or what was next. 

We were afraid, and that fear never really went away—not completely. People were shocked and scared, unsure what was happening and what—or who—would be hit next. Parents at my daughter’s school pulled their children out in the middle of the day, irrationally fearful that terrorists might—out of all possible targets—strike a small school in the Midwest. 

Families remained glued to their TV sets all day and night as the totality of the horror unfolded. Shots of people jumping from the flaming towers to their deaths from the towers, NYFD ladder engines crushed by falling debris, and bloodied citizens stumbling blindly through streets covered with paper, smoke, dust, and rubble, and later, family members posting thousands of missing persons flyers up and down the streets of lower Manhattan were seared into our collective consciousness. We also saw firefighters and first responders grieving for their fallen comrades and the spontaneous and awesome courage of ordinary citizens who risked their own lives to save those of strangers. It was a very long and horrible day.

Then the nation—and the world—rallied. We sent our condolences and our resources to the victims of Ground Zero, the Pentagon Attack, and the heroes of Flight 93 who foiled yet another terrorist attack on the Capitol Building. Nations across the globe condemned the attacks, expressed sympathy for the victims, and promised solidarity with the United States. Canada’s sterling efforts to welcome and support incoming American flights to their airports has since been named Operation Yellow Ribbon.

Less than twenty-four hours after the attack, the NATO’s North Atlantic Council met in an emergency meeting, and, after later determining that the attacks had come from abroad, declared the attacks invoked Article 5 of NATO, “which recognises that a state that is the victim of an armed attack has the inherent right to individual or collective self-defence, and may request others to come to its assistance. Within the NATO context, Article 5 translates this right of self-defence into a mutual assistance obligation.” (NATO). And so our allies—with no hesitation—came to our assistance. NATO sent soldiers from thirteen nations to patrol skies over the U.S. and to patrol the Mediterranean. 

At home, Americans rallied to help their fellow citizens. America: A Tribute to Heroes, a benefit concert produced by four major TV networks and hosted by George Clooney featured musicians Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson and more who donated their time and talents to aid the victims of the attacks and their families. The Concert for New York City, United We Stand: What More Can I Give, and other events to support first responders, victims in New York City and Washington, D.C. We emptied our hearts and our wallets. It showed us at our best. 

The events of this day also brought out the worst in us. According to reports in The Human Rights Project,  this “major terrorist attack gave rise to a nationwide wave of hate crimes against persons and institutions perceived to be Arab or Muslim. Unlike previous hate crime waves, however, the September 11 backlash distinguished itself by its ferocity and extent. The violence included murder, physical assaults, arson, vandalism of places of worship and other property damage, death threats, and public harassment.” According to The Pew Research Center, the FBI reported increased in bias crimes against Muslim communities, an elevation of hate which has not abated in the twenty-five years since the attack.

According to historian Nathan Citino, the 9/11 attack had other consequences that have resonated far beyond the physical destruction of that day. One was “the creation of the Department of Homeland Security… The department represented a new way of thinking about national security within American domestic life, including questions about immigration and who belongs within the “homeland,”  (Rice News and Media Relations). 

Another was “the USA PATRIOT Act, passed shortly after the attacks, which expanded the government’s surveillance and investigative powers. Citino also sees the post-9/11 period as an important part of the growing antagonism in American political discourse,” an effect that believes may have led to the rise of Donald Trump. 

Our country’s failure to prevent the attacks also fomented the American people’s widespread distrust of the establishment, which, along with government’s newly minted investigative powers, caused skepticism about the trustworthiness of these institutions, doubts that were subsequently exploited by Trump. 

During his first term, Trump banned entry for citizens of six Muslim nations to the U.S., a move obviously designed to feed on the fears caused by 9/11. Coupled with the advent of social media and doomscrolling—along with Trump’s constant disparaging of the press—this fear—paranoia—has pushed people further apart and forced them deeper into their social media cocoons that are nothing more than partisan echo chambers. 

I can remember the time when there were no security checkpoints at airports and when our country was not perpetually involved in Middle East conflicts. I remember when political differences were not so divisive and when we did not consider immigrants a threat. 

I also remember in the days after the attack when Americans seemed more aware of each other, more courteous and kinder, united by our communal loss. Unfortunately, these behaviors were short-lived, but they did show we can look to our better angels.

9/11 still resonates in our lives today. The divisiveness caused by our fear of outsiders and encouraged by Trump has made adversaries of allies and enemies of friends. The public welfare has suffered. As Professor Citino points out, if the money spent in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan gone to domestic programs, lives for today’s students might have been much different. “They (the students) kind of viscerally feel the costs of 9/11 in terms of their future and the resources that we devoted elsewhere that could have been used for other purposes.” (Rice News and Media). Yes, like healthcare, college tuition, infrastructure, and public education. 

9/11 was a long and horrible day in our history, one we cannot afford to forget. Most importantly, we are still suffering its effects. We cannot change history, but we can certainly, through understanding and acceptance, and remembering the sacrifices, benevolence and heroism shown that day, make ourselves a better and brighter future.

Notes

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactions_to_the_September_11_attacks
2. https://loadtest.911memorial.org/learn/resources/digital-exhibitions/digital-exhibition-revealed-hunt-bin-laden/international-community-responds
3. https://www.nato.int/en/what-we-do/introduction-to-nato/collective-defence-and-article-5
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America:_A_Tribute_to_Heroes
5. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/usahate/usa1102-04.htm
6. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/09/03/25-years-after-9-11-a-portrait-of-muslim-americans/
7. https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/25-years-later-historian-reflects-911-and-its-lasting-legacy