Latest / The Kevin Stone Podcast / Episode #29 "Remembering Sept 11th, 2001"

Transcript

Episode #29 "Remembering Sept 11th, 2001" · The Kevin Stone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: 25 years ago today, Americans woke up expecting an ordinary Tuesday.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: People went to work, parents took children to school, passengers
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: boarded airplanes, firefighters and police officers began another shift. Before
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: that morning was over, 2,977 innocent people had been killed,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: thousands more had been injured, and the world had changed forever.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Today's episode is not about politics. It's not about assigning blame,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: debating policies, or settling old arguments. Today we remember. This
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: is the Kevin Stone Podcast. I'm Kevin Stone and this
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: episode is dedicated entirely to remembering September 11th, 2001. In
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: September of 2001, I was 28 years old. September 11th
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: was a Tuesday morning. I was asleep on my couch
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: when the phone rang. I answered the phone, and still
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: to this day, I couldn't tell you who it was
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: that had called me. All I can tell you is
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: that it was a man's voice. And they said, turn
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the TV on. And I hung up. That was it.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: So I grabbed the remote, and I turned the TV on,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: just in time to see the second plane hit the tower.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: I knew instantly that America was under attack. This wasn't
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: something that was going to be an accident. I watched
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: all the coverage at my house. A couple of my
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: neighbors had come over trying to figure out what was
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: going on. I remember that my neighborhood was quiet. It
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: was a beautiful morning, cool outside. I remember that for
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: the rest of the day, watching the news coverage, talking
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: to a few of my neighbors that were out and about,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: that the world seemed different. Everything had changed. Nothing would
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: ever be the same again. Everybody old enough to remember
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: that morning seems to have their own answer to the
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: question of where were you? Where were you at that day?
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: What were you doing? That's one of the moments that
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: grab a hold of you. And you never forget. But
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: there's an entire generation that's grown up with no personal
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: memory of it at all. It's been 25 years. On
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, at 8.46 a.m. Eastern Time,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: World Trade Center. At 9.03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: struck the South Tower. At 9.37 a.m., American Airlines Flight
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: 77 struck the Pentagon. At 9.59 a.m., the South Tower collapsed.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: At 10.03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: after passengers and crew fought back against the hijacker. At 10.28 a.m.,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: the North Tower collapsed. That entire sequence unfolded in less
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: than two hours. It's difficult to comprehend how quickly everything happened.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: People inside those buildings were trying to understand an unimaginable situation.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: First responders were running towards something that everybody else was
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: trying to get away from. Families were calling loved ones
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: without knowing if it would be their final conversation or not.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: The attacks killed 2,977 people from more than 90 countries. 2,753
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: were killed in New York. 184 people were killed at
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: the Pentagon. 40 passengers and crew members were killed on
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: board Flight 93. The dead included 441 first responders. The
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: greatest loss of emergency responders on a single day in
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: American history. 2,977. But every single one of those had
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: a name, had a family. had plans for the future,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: and had someone expecting them to come home that night.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: There were office workers, travelers, military personnel, firefighters, police officers, paramedics,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: flight crews, and ordinary people from all around the world.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: We say 2,977 victims, but no family lost a number.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: They lost a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: a parent, a friend, or a co-worker. And then there
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: were the people that ran toward the danger. Firefighters climbed
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: stairwells carrying heavy equipment. Police officers and emergency personnel helped
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: evacuate civilians. Office workers helped injured strangers. People carried co-workers
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: who couldn't escape on their own. Boat operators helped evacuate
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands from lower Manhattan. Many responders continued working
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: at Ground Zero for days and months afterwards. Survivors and
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: responders continued to suffer illnesses connected to toxic exposures. Terrorism
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: on September 11th wasn't limited to famous names. Much of
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: it came from ordinary people who saw someone in danger
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: and decided to help. We use the word hero pretty
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: casually these days. But what did it mean that morning?
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: It meant people moving toward danger without knowing whether they'd
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: come back or not. It meant strangers helping strangers. It
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: meant ordinary people making extraordinary decisions when there was no
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: time to prepare. And let's look at Plot 93, the
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: ordinary people who fought back. The passengers and crew learned
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: through telephone calls that other hijacked planes had been used
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: as weapons, and they understood that their aircraft was likely
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: part of the same attack. They organized an effort to
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: regain control. Their actions prevented the hijackers from reaching their
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: intended target in Washington. All 40 passengers and crew member
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: were killed. They weren't soldiers preparing for battle. They were
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: passengers and flight crews who only had minutes to make
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: an impossible decision. Courage doesn't mean that you're not scared.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Sometimes courage is deciding that fear won't make the decision
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: for you. We know where Flight 93 came down because
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: what those passengers and crew members did, we'll never know
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: how many additional lives they saved. And then the Pentagon.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: The Pentagon was struck at 9.37 a.m. The 184 people
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: killed included those on board Flight 77 and people working
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: inside the building. Military and civilian personnel worked together to
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: rescue survivors. This part of the attack sometimes receives less
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: attention than the destruction in New York, but those lives
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: must also be remembered. Three locations, four airplanes, thousands of
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: families whose lives were divided forever into everything that happened
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: before September 11th and everything that came afterward. And then
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: came the day after, September 12th. Americans were frightened, angry,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: and grieving, but people also donated blood, filled churches, displayed flags, volunteered,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: checked on neighbors, thanked first responders, and stood together across
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: political differences. For a brief period, Americans remembered that disagreement
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: didn't have to make us enemies. I remember that the
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: days after the attack, there was a lot of sorrow.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: People didn't seem quick to get angry at each other,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: and a lot of us seemed more connected with each other.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Neighbors checked on neighbors. Strangers actually talked to each other
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: in supermarkets and gas station lines. Why does it seem
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: like it takes the worst moments to remind us that
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: we belong to one another? Maybe because tragedy strips away
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: the smaller arguments and shows us what actually matters. For
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: those of us who lived through it, September 11th is
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: a memory. For younger Americans, it's history. But it's our
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: responsibility to connect the two. A quarter century has passed.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Children born after the attacks are now adults. Students learning
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: about September 11th may experience it as history rather than
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: a memory. Pictures of the Twin Towers may look as
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: distant to them as older images once looked to us.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Those of us who remember have a responsibility to tell
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: the story accurately. Not to frighten younger people. Not to
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: use the victims for political argument. but to ensure that
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: the individuals and their courage are not reduced to a
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: chapter heading. And you always hear, never forget. Never forget
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: should be more than a slogan beneath a photograph. It
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: should be a commitment to remember who was lost, honor
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: who served, and teach those who came afterward. Never forget
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: the 2,977 people who were killed. Never forget the families
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: who still live with their absence. Never forget the survivors.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Never forget the first responders. Never forget the passengers and
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: crew of Flight 93. Never forget the courage shown by
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: ordinary people. Never forget the value of national unity. Never
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: forget the danger of allowing time to turn real human
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: lives into impersonal statistics. I want to pause now in
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: memory of the 2,977 people who left home on September 11,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: 2001 and never returned. 25 years have passed, but the
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: people killed on September 11, 2001 are not merely figures
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: from history. They had names. They had families. They had
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: ordinary plans for an ordinary Tuesday. We remember those who
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: were taken. We honor those who ran toward danger. We
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: stand beside the families who have cried and carried this
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: loss for 25 years. And we promise the generations that
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: follow us that these lives and the courage displayed that
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: morning will not be forgotten. May God comfort the families.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: May God protect those who continue to serve. And may
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: God bless the United States of America. I'm Kevin Stone.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Thank you for remembering with me.