09/11/2025
24 years after such evil was perpetrated on our nation, I am certain we all find ourselves reflecting on it. Not just today, but as it comes up throughout our lives.
While this day, or these events, are not about me, I find that they have affected me differently in different phases of my life. As a member of the United States Armed Forces. As part of the Law Enforcement Community. And more recently, as a husband and a father.
This photo and these moments are what I find to be the most harrowing. Not because I think the individual transcends the overall catastrophe, but because I think the individual impacts are often lost in the mayhem of it. For so many, their lives have never been the same.
I think back to September 12th, 2001, and what I recall of it. More so, I think back to the stories of heroism and bravery that I’ve heard and read—the actions of everyday human beings in the wake of such a disaster. I think of where I believed we were as a community, and as a nation.
What saddens me the most is how much of a tragedy it required for us to remember the humanity in each other. More so, how far we have strayed. What I fear is that we have created an environment so divided and so devoid of humanity that it would require another event so tragic to even briefly bring us back to who we were on September 12th, 2001.
As a nation, we must remember: it is the people in it that make up this great nation. What team you are on—blue or red—does not define who you are as a human being. The perseverance, empathy, courage, and kindness we show to our fellow human beings is what defines us.
Let us never forget those who perished on 9/11, and the brave men and women who selflessly saved so many lives both here and across the globe.
