The Friday Link for 9/11/26

Hi all.

Today marks the 25th Anniversary of 9/11. I was home that morning. We had just purchased our house 3 months earlier and were getting it ready for our first child, born in October.  I heard the radio morning show talking about how a plane had hit the World Trade Center, but not in an urgent news tone, but rather in a "weird, wacky news to start your day" capacity.  It all changed when the second tower was hit.

I ran downstairs to watch the news and will never forget a visibly shaken NBC News reporter at the Pentagon telling people the entire Pentagon just shook, and he had to evacuate. I remember asking myself if anywhere was safe at that moment.

2,977 people died that morning. 

The next night my wife and I were sitting on our porch, noticing how quiet the skies were as all the country's flights were grounded.  Living in a major city, you get used to the sound of planes flying over.  That evening, the silence was deafening.  

We did change as a country that day, in a lot of ways, and a lot of them weren't positive changes. 

I'm going to post the full Naudet Brothers documentary on 9/11.  These were the two French filmmakers following around a rookie firefighter, and what ended up happening to them that day will be the film that encapsulates what that day was like, not only the gut punch of being attacked in such a vicious way, but also focusing on the bravery and heroics of the people on the ground in New York City that morning.

Never forget.

Please make sure you stay up to date on all of your vaccinations.

Be safe, everyone.