By Cory Gardner, NCTA President & CEO
It was a Tuesday. I was fresh out of law school and only a few weeks into my first real job in Washington, D.C. That weekend, I had flown to Boise for a work trip. The ticket was cheap because the flight to DC connected through Phoenix. But after takeoff, we never made the turn south. We were flying slowly and the plane stayed at what seemed like a low altitude. Something must be wrong with the plane, I assumed. Then, about 40 minutes into the flight, the captain made an announcement: Two planes had hit the World Trade Center, the FAA had grounded all flights. We were returning to Boise immediately. It had taken us 40 minutes to get to wherever we were. It seemed to take mere minutes to turn around and get back on the ground.
It was September 11, 2001.
Out came the Blackberries and pagers, pointlessly trying to connect. We landed at a near-empty airport, one of the last planes to return. As we deplaned, a security officer armed with a machine gun ran past us. Behind him was a large airport window painted with the slogan: ‘Fly the Friendly Skies.’
Twenty-five years ago.
A growing share of Americans were not yet born on September 11, 2001, or were too young to remember it firsthand. For them, 9/11 is history. For those of us who remember that day, the details remain remarkably vivid. We remember where we were, whom we were with, the mile marker on the highway when the news came over the radio—even the advertising slogan painted on an airport window. All of us share in the collective memory and pain of a day that scarred our national soul.
Much has happened in the 25 years since. We have endured wars, a pandemic, political division and profound social and technological change, yet here we stand as the world’s oldest democracy, celebrating 250 years together. Those 250 years reflect the determination of a nation that is not perfect, but learns through imperfection to be a stronger country, a better people, driven to live up to that lofty notion of a more perfect union. While disagreements grab headlines, we stand united in the belief of our great nation, of these United States.
On this 25th anniversary, tell the story. Tell your children where you were. Ask someone who remembers where they were. Remember the nearly 3,000 lives lost. Remember the courage of those who ran toward danger. And remember something else about September 11: in one of our darkest hours, Americans found strength in one another.
Twenty-five years later, it remains a memory worth holding onto: United we stand.
