09/11/2026
REFLECTION 25 YEARS AFTER SEPTEMBER 11...
The attacks on our soil that day remain a vivid memory for those of us who were alive to witness them. No matter where we were, each of us carries our own memory of that tragedy, and of the resilience that followed it. It was a reminder that safety is never guaranteed and tomorrow is never promised. It was also a reminder that our emotions can either bring us together or lead us to our worst judgment.
As I stand in front of a new class of students each semester, I notice the distance between that morning and the young people in front of me growing a little wider each year. It often seems that the thing that unifies us most as a nation is great tragedy. I wish that were not the case.
I still remember the evening of September 11th. I was driving to my night shift in my '68 Camaro, and as I crossed town I found myself revving the engine, burning rubber, and cheering alongside fellow citizens in the cars next to me and on every corner of every main street. People were waving American flags and chanting "USA! USA! USA!" For one night, we were not divided by politics, ideology, or belief. We were simply Americans, standing together. That is the feeling I hope we never lose, and the one I still believe we are capable of finding again, even without tragedy to summon it. It is what I carry as hope, and it is what we owe the people we lost that day, and the veterans and allies who have sacrificed in the years since. Their sacrifice cannot be for nothing. It cannot be in vain.
That day also revealed who we are at our best. Firefighters climbed the stairwells of towers others were fleeing. Police officers, paramedics, and port authority officers ran toward the danger instead of away from it. Office workers carried coworkers they had never met down dozens of flights of stairs. Passengers on Flight 93 chose to act rather than wait, and gave their lives so that others might live. Volunteers from every background and profession, ironworkers, nurses, chaplains, and everyday neighbors, converged on Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville to search, to rebuild, and to grieve alongside strangers who became family. None of them asked what the other believed, or how they voted, before offering their hands.
For me, September 11th is a somber reminder of humanity's worst, and a hopeful reminder of America's best. Each of us has a choice in how we carry that memory forward. I choose to listen, to learn, and to serve, committing myself to continuous improvement because those who came before us earned it, and those who come after us need it.
-Michael Silva, EdD, MS
(photo credit: 911 Memorial)
