09/11/2026
25 years ago, the world watched a day unfold that would forever change so many lives.
September 11, 2001 is more than a date in history. Behind the number of lives lost were thousands of individual people. Sons and daughters, husbands and wives, moms and dads, brothers and sisters, friends and coworkers. People who woke up and went about an ordinary Tuesday morning with plans for that evening, that weekend, and all the years they believed were still ahead of them. Families said goodbye that morning having no idea it would be the last time.
We remember the innocent lives taken far too soon. We remember the people who made phone calls to the ones they loved in their final moments. We remember those who helped coworkers and complete strangers find their way to safety. We remember the survivors who walked away carrying memories that would stay with them for the rest of their lives, and the families who were left to somehow learn how to live with an absence that could never truly be filled.
We also remember that in the middle of unimaginable tragedy, we also witnessed extraordinary courage. First responders ran toward danger while others were running away. Strangers helped strangers. Communities came together. And in one of our country’s darkest moments, we were reminded just how much humanity, bravery, and compassion can exist within one another.
We remember the firefighters, police officers, EMTs, paramedics and other first responders who answered the call without knowing what awaited them. We remember the ordinary people who, in extraordinary circumstances, chose to help the person beside them. We remember the volunteers, rescue workers and countless others who showed up in the hours, days, weeks and months afterward to search, recover, rebuild and simply be there for people they had never even met.
& we remember the four-legged heroes who served beside them, too. The search and rescue dogs who worked through the rubble alongside their handlers, searching tirelessly for survivors and helping bring answers to families. The dogs who comforted exhausted rescue workers and grieving people during some of their darkest moments. They may not have understood the magnitude of what had happened, but they knew how to search, how to serve and how to stay beside the humans who needed them. Their service is part of this story, too.
So much was lost that day, and so many carried the weight of September 11th long after the rest of the world began moving forward. We remember those who later became sick or lost their lives because of their work at Ground Zero. We remember the families who continued grieving privately after the headlines disappeared. We remember the survivors, the responders, the volunteers and everyone whose life can still be divided into before September 11th and after.
A quarter of a century has now passed. There is an entire generation that wasn’t alive to witness that day and will only know it through photographs, videos, history books and the stories we choose to continue telling.
So we have to keep telling them.
We tell them about the people we lost. We tell them about the courage we witnessed. We tell them about strangers carrying strangers, first responders running toward danger, communities coming together and a country grieving together. We make sure that as the years continue to pass, the people behind the photographs and numbers are never reduced to just a chapter in a history book.
Today, 25 years later, we remember every life taken too soon. We honor every hero who answered the call. We hold close every family whose world changed forever. And we remember all those who served in the aftermath.
25 years later, we remember. We honor. And we will never forget. 🇺🇸
09.11.2001
