America Looks Back on 9/11 Attacks, 21 Years Later

Sunday marks 21 years since the infamous terror attacks of 2001, which resulted in the death of nearly 3,000 people. It was a day that changed America in more ways than one. Whatever course the country was on track to take into the 21st century, the agony of that day undoubtedly altered the direction.

This year, Americans look back not only on the terror attacks, now two decades past, but also the more recent scar of last year’s chaotic end to the war in Afghanistan, the conflict ignited in the heat of grief and anger that followed the towers’ fall. Remembrance of 9/11 this year is unique in that there is no war, or recent withdrawal from war, to point to as evidence of the continued impact of the attacks.

As the pain of the attacks recedes deeper into history, many media outlets published stories not only remembering the attacks themselves, but also how the memory exists in the minds of Americans. In an article from NBC News, a poll was broken down to reveal that the axiom of ‘never forget’ is complicated by the growing number of Americans that weren’t old enough to remember. A writer for The Hill emphasized the work that remained to be done in hardening national security against other possible attacks. In the Washington Examiner, a writer stressed the ongoing threat of terrorism, resurgent following American forces withdrawal from Afghanistan.