There are certain days that divide history into "before" and "after." September 11, 2001, is one of those days.
For those of us who lived through it, the memories remain remarkably clear. We remember where we were when we heard the news. We remember the television images, the confusion, the fear and the disbelief. We remember watching the events unfold and wondering what kind of world our children and grandchildren would inherit.
Twenty-five years later, September 11 is no longer simply a date in a history book. Its effects are still woven into everyday American life.
Perhaps the most obvious change is the way we travel. Airports that once seemed relatively routine became places of intensive security. Identification, screening, restrictions on what we can carry and longer waits became accepted parts of flying. For younger Americans, these procedures are simply normal. They may not remember a time when airport security was a much smaller part of the travel experience.
But the changes went far beyond airports.
September 11 transformed the way America thinks about security. The creation and expansion of government agencies and security programs brought greater attention to terrorism and potential threats. Law enforcement agencies changed their priorities, emergency responders received new training and communities became more conscious of preparing for disasters and mass emergencies.
It also changed the way many Americans viewed the world.
Before 9/11, terrorism was certainly a concern, but for many Americans it seemed like something that happened somewhere else. September 11 brought that threat directly into our homes through television and the internet. Suddenly, the idea that thousands of innocent people could be killed on American soil was no longer unthinkable.
The aftermath also came with difficult questions about the balance between security and freedom.
Americans wanted their government to protect them, but they also had to wrestle with questions about privacy, surveillance, government power and civil liberties. Those debates did not end with the wars that followed. They remain part of our national conversation today.
The events of 9/11 also changed a generation of Americans.
Young men and women joined the military, many putting their lives on hold to serve. Families said goodbye to sons and daughters, husbands and wives. Some never came home. Others returned carrying physical and emotional scars that would stay with them for the rest of their lives.
The wars that followed affected communities across the country, including communities far removed from the battlefields. Small towns sent their young people into service just as larger cities did. Local families worried, waited and prayed.
And then there is something harder to measure: the effect 9/11 had on how Americans looked at one another.
In the days immediately following the attacks, there was an extraordinary sense of unity. Political differences seemed less important. Flags appeared everywhere. People reached out to neighbors and strangers. First responders were celebrated. Ordinary Americans looked for ways to help.
That sense of unity did not last forever.
Over the years, political divisions returned. Arguments about terrorism, immigration, war, national security and America’s role in the world became increasingly heated. In some cases, suspicion and prejudice were directed toward Muslim Americans and people of Middle Eastern descent who had nothing to do with the attacks.
That is another lesson of September 11: fear can bring people together, but it can also divide them.
Today, a generation has grown up that knows 9/11 primarily through history lessons, documentaries and stories told by parents and grandparents. For them, September 11 is like other historic events they never personally experienced.
That makes remembering even more important.
We should remember the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives. We should remember the firefighters, police officers, paramedics and ordinary citizens who ran toward danger while others were trying to escape. We should remember the families who lost loved ones and the military families who carried the burden of the wars that followed.
But remembering should be about more than tragedy.
It should also remind us of the better qualities that appeared in those dark days: courage, compassion, sacrifice, service and a willingness to stand together.
Perhaps that is the greatest lesson 9/11 can still teach us in 2026.
We cannot change what happened on September 11, 2001. We cannot erase the pain or undo the years of conflict that followed.
But we can decide what we do with the memory.
We can protect our communities without giving up the freedoms that define them. We can disagree without treating our neighbors as enemies. We can reject hatred and prejudice. We can appreciate those who serve in our military and emergency services. And we can remember that when Americans put aside their differences and look after one another, extraordinary things are possible.
September 11 changed America.
It changed how we travel, how we think about security, how we view the world and, in many ways, how we view ourselves.
But perhaps the most important question is not simply what 9/11 changed. It is what we have learned from it.
And whether, when the next generation looks back at our time in history, they will see that we remembered not only the terrible things that happenedbut also the courage and humanity that followed.