Ron Rigdon

25 years. It’s hard to believe a quarter century has passed since September 11, 2001. I was a student at SEMO when the attacks happened, and some of these first images are newspaper pages I saved from Cape Girardeau in those days immediately afterward. I don’t think any of us who lived through that day will ever forget where we were, what we were doing, or the feeling of watching something unfold that we knew would change our country forever. Over the years, I’ve had several opportunities to visit New York, and each trip has given me a different memory of that skyline and that city. In 2003, I stood at Ground Zero, when the wounds of September 11 still felt incredibly fresh. I returned in 2010 and 2011, looking out across a skyline where the Twin Towers once stood. I’ve looked at Manhattan from inside the crown of the Statue of Liberty. And in 2019, I got to experience New York with my family, making memories with my girls in a city that, nearly two decades after the attacks, was still unmistakably New York. Some of these memories are solemn. Some are reflective. Others are full of life and laughter. And I think there’s something fitting about sharing all of them. Because remembering September 11 isn’t only about remembering the unimaginable loss of that morning. It’s remembering the people who ran toward danger to help others. It’s remembering the way Americans came together afterward. And it’s remembering that the city they tried to break kept living, rebuilding, laughing, singing and welcoming millions of people from around the world. The skyline changed forever that morning. So did America. 25 years later, we remember the 2,977 lives taken that day, their families, the first responders, and everyone whose life was forever changed. We remember what was lost. And we remember the spirit that endured. September 11, 2001 🇺🇸 #NeverForget