EDITORIAL: The need to remember the horror of 9/11

“Jules, this is Brian. Listen, I’m on an airplane that’s been hijacked. If things don’t go well and it’s not looking good, I just want you to know that I absolutely love you.”

If you were alive 25 years ago, you can picture the airplane that call came from. Flight 11 has just struck near the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Hundreds dead in a flash. A frantic rescue effort begins. Off-duty police officer John Perry is nearby filing his retirement papers. After hearing what happened, Mr. Perry takes back his badge and runs to help. He will soon become one of the more than 400 first responders to die today.

The plane crash is wall-to-wall news, a viral event in an age before ubiquitous social media. It has to be an accident, right? This is America, the world’s sole remaining superpower. We could never be attacked like this. It’s inconceivable.

And then Flight 175, carrying passenger Brian David Sweeney who left that voicemail, roars over New York City on September 11, 2001. At 9:03 a.m., the plane slams into the South Tower. The resulting fiery explosion punctuates the impossible — America is under attack.

The Federal Aviation Administration soon stops civilian aircraft from taking off. But what about the planes that were still in the air? Are there more guided missiles up there — and who is guiding them?

The nation doesn’t have to wait long to find out part of the answer. Flight 77 smashes into the Pentagon. We’ll later learn that the devastated section of the building was undergoing renovations, saving potentially hundreds of lives. Even amidst the tragedy, a bit of divine protection.

American bravery will shine brightly on this tragic day. Firefighters leading evacuation efforts. Military members pulling people out of the burning Pentagon. The largest boatlift in world history whisking around half a million people away from Manhattan.

Aboard Flight 93, a brave group is preparing to storm the cockpit of the final hijacked flight.

“I know we’re all going to die,” Thomas Burnett Jr., a passenger on Flight 93, told his wife over the phone. “There’s three of us who are going to do something about it. I love you, honey.”

After a prayer, Todd Beamer rallies his fellow passengers, “Let’s roll.” Flight 93 crashes in a Pennsylvania field, not the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Twenty-five years later, it’s tempting to ignore the pain, the memories, the horror of that day. Don’t.

9/11 is vivid proof that some people in the world hate our country and want you dead. The passengers on Flight 93 courageously faced that reality and fought back. Do the same.