There are many New Yorkers who witnessed the attack on the World Trade Center a quarter century ago who have yet to visit the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in downtown Manhattan. Depending on who is asked, the memories are too traumatizing, and there are countless other neighborhood memorials and commemorative events where one can pause to reflect.
I could not have imagined that in 2026, we would have a mayor whose presence at the memorial would stir so much controversy, not because of his religion but because of his use of the pulpit to divide and disparage fellow New Yorkers, particularly Jews for their support of Israel. Likewise, the president uses social media to dismantle longstanding alliances, befriend autocrats, criminals, and fraudsters, and promote a vision for this country that excludes so many of its citizens, while using every means possible to deport and discourage people from making this country their home.
Although I have yet to visit the national memorial, in the past decade of working for the city’s Parks Department, I’ve stopped by Tribute Park in the Rockaways; the Staten Island September 11 Memorial on its north shore and the World Trade Center Educational Tribute at Snug Harbor; the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance at Coney Island; the memorial grove in Sunset Park; and the beacon in Bay Ridge, as well as street signs carrying the names of dead New Yorkers and firehouses with portraits and jackets of firefighters who were killed as the Twin Towers collapsed on them.
On that fateful day, I was in high school on the Upper West Side, across the street from FDNY Engine 40/Ladder 53, which lost 12 men battling the city’s deadliest fire, with two more dying in the subsequent years from illnesses related to 9/11. My father was commuting to his job in New Jersey. Upon exiting the Lincoln Tunnel, the bus was circling the helix toward Union City when passengers witnessed an explosion followed by a plume of black smoke emanating from the World Trade Center. I was in class, and upon hearing of the terrorist attack, my first thoughts related to the intifada taking place in Israel. Within a couple of hours, smoke continued to appear on the horizon, and we could not imagine using the past tense for the city’s tallest buildings.
Each of my father’s coworkers and all of my classmates and teachers made their way home that day, by foot, boat, and, in my case, a crowded 7 train that resumed service in the late afternoon. As it emerged from the tunnel on the Queens side, the wind dispersed charred documents from the World Trade Center, carrying names of individuals, some of whom will never have the dignity of a funeral.
President George W. Bush rose to the occasion that evening in a public speech. “Our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. And we responded with the best of America—with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could.”
Elected by the thinnest of margins a year earlier, Bush spoke of the response to the attack with an appeal to unity, from our allies and among Americans. “America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism. Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.’”
In the subsequent years, his administration’s inability to outline a postwar future in Iraq and Afghanistan cost him the political capital earned in the days after 9/11. His successor, Barack Obama, issued the order to breach Pakistani sovereignty and quickly eliminate the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. But his resolve was questioned when he refused to share images of the Al Qaeda leader out of respect for Muslim sensitivities.
Perhaps to the credit of enhanced border and airport security, this country has not experienced a terrorist attack or airplane hijacking comparable to 9/11, even as other countries were put to the test, each offering a different response to terrorism.
In 2004, Chechen terrorists stormed a school in the Russian town of Beslan, taking more than 1,100 people hostage, most of them schoolchildren. President Vladimir Putin ordered a heavy-handed response that resulted in many of the hostages being killed. He visited Beslan only once since then, while suppressing criticism of his response by parents and survivors.
Also in that year, terrorists supportive of Al Qaeda bombed the Atocha train station in Madrid, killing 193 people and wounding another 2,000. In the aftermath, Spanish voters elected a socialist government that pulled troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq.
In 2005, terrorists struck multiple buses and subway stations in London in an expression of opposition to Great Britain’s participation in the war against terrorism. Not counting the terrorists, 52 people were killed, a small number in comparison to 9/11, but an attack in the heart of the capital city shocked the British public. In the years following that attack, voters swung between short-lived conservative and liberal governments, leading to the present cabinet of Andy Burnham, who staunchly supports the Palestinian cause.
In 2008, terrorists from Pakistan landed on the beach in Mumbai in a coordinated attack against a train terminal, hotel, hospital, and Chabad house. In the aftermath, the Indian government increased security, applied pressure on Pakistan to crack down on terrorists, and, over time, voters leaned toward nationalism, with the election of current Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.
The unity among nations expressed in the days following 9/11 gave way to opportunism, in which the leading military powers seek spheres of influence at the cost of American security, human rights, and democracy.
The world could not care to rescue Nigerian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, Saudi Arabia spent a decade bombing the Houthis in Yemen with little support from other nations, and the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan with Russian and Chinese diplomats offering tacit support in exchange for minerals and other concessions. Ukraine has experienced state terrorism with Russian bombings of hospitals, schools, and theaters sheltering children. Israel stands as a pariah for actions that would be acceptable if performed in self-defense by any other nation.
Americans expressed resolve in the days after 9/11, but we’ve also become divided on Israel, Ukraine, whether to maintain or jettison our historic alliances, whether to welcome immigrants as individuals, or exclude them based on their origins. For the same reasons that this country’s 250th day of independence felt understated, I feel the same way about 9/11.
My friend Josh told me about his road trip to Pennsylvania last month. “I wanted my son to see the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville. These people were heroes. Knowing that they would die, they saved countless lives.” This is the memorial where unity is best exemplified, not as victims but in a collective action that saved this country from further grief. Their example should be highlighted as a means of healing this divided nation a quarter century after 9/11. After hearing Josh’s reason for visiting this memorial, I resolve to see it as well.