09/11/2026
We all remember where we were.
Heather had just graduated from college and moved home. She heard the first reports on the radio while running errands, hurried home and told her mom, “Turn on the TV.”
Amy was a journalism student in New York, watching the news before class. What she witnessed that morning would shape the conversations in her journalism courses for the rest of the semester.
Joe was barely out of college and home from work that day. At first, he thought he was hearing about a terrible accident. Then he turned on the television.
Jacque had just finished breakfast. Her family didn’t have a television at home, so she and her siblings went to their uncle’s house, where they spent the day pretending to focus on schoolwork while watching and waiting to see what would happen next.
Four young adults. Four different places. The same disbelief as we watched an unimaginable day unfold.
Twenty-five years later, we also remember what came afterward: the bravery, the compassion, people gathering together, and a sense of unity that crossed communities and borders.
We wish we could find more of that unity today.
Remembering those whose lives were lost, those who stepped forward to help, and all those whose lives were forever changed.
May we keep choosing our shared humanity.