There are certain events that should always be remembered and never forgotten. The September 11, 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon is one of those events
By Howie Katz
The 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon took the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans. Every president since then has participated in 9/11 commemorative ceremonies. Every president, that is except Joe Biden.
Biden is off in Vietnam talking about a John Wayne movie with Indians when babbling about climate change. Biden had been in India attending a G20 summit. Instead of returning home at the end of that meeting to commemorate 9/11, Biden flew off to Vietnam on September 10.
There are four events in my lifetime that I will always remember.
1. Coming to America
In 1936, my parents and I came to America as refugees from Nazi Germany. I was only nine-plus-years-old, but I will never forget the awesome sight of those skyscrapers as our ship approached New York Harbor.
2. Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, I was in a Marshall, Texas movie theater. Suddenly the movie stopped and the lights came on. The theater manager got up in front of the now blank screen to announce the 'Japs' had bombed Pearl Harbor and sunk some of our battleships.
3. The assassination of JFK
On November 22, 1963, I was in a meeting of parole agents in Santa Ana, California. The meeting was interrupted and we were informed that President Kennedy had been shot and believed to be dead. We were then told to go home.
4. September 11, 2001
On that date, I was a volunteer at the Houston Zoo cleaning out the Orangutan cages. The phone rang and I picked it up. Some guy said that a plane had accidentally hit one of the Twin Towers. After a short pause he said, "Hey, that was no accident, another plane has just hit the other tower."
Unfortunately, as the years go by, those events are forgotten. That's why it is so important that our presidents commemorate 9/11. The attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon should always be remembered.
And we should also remember that except for the heroics of some brave
passengers, another plane would have hit Congress or the White House.
Likewise, I will never forget Kennedy's assassination, the Cuban missile crisis, or 9-11. Sadly, the day after 9-11, my wife said America will never forget this. I told her I didn't think so. I predicted it would be remarkable if our grief and commitment to justice and retribution endured for more than a couple of months. Regrettably, I was right - in less than two months we were right back to watching NFL games and beer commercials. Americans have short memories and that is just one of many reasons our enemies love to hate us. Now, we want to stop memorializing the event and push it into the forgotten past along with Pearl Harbor.
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