Editorial: On 23rd anniversary of 9/11, remind yourselves, your children

By Brandi Makuski

Most adults can tell you exactly where they were on Sept. 11, 2001.

The date needs no introduction. Many of us watched the deadliest attack on American soil unfold on live television. Still, the words scarcely exist that adequately describe what we observed that day. It’s a moment in time that feels just as painful today as it did 23 years ago.

For those of us old enough to remember life before 9/11, we recognize the date is a watershed moment. Life was simpler before the terrorist attacks that killed over 3,000 of our countrymen and women. But by mid-morning on Sept. 11, 2001, we realized our great country was no longer invincible. We suddenly knew what it meant to live in a world of fear and uncertainty.

Today, we’re raising a generation who doesn’t remember the 9/11 attacks. Today’s high schoolers weren’t born yet. All they know is life afterward.

Much like other national tragedies, like preceding generations’ retelling of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 that our parents explained, the burden falls on us to ensure today’s young people carry on the national motto under which they were also born: “Never forget.”

Thanks to modern technology, virtually every moment of that day was captured by a news camera, a cell phone video, or the recording of a frantic call home from someone on one of four doomed airplanes, or trapped in a burning building, who knew they were about to die.

As hard as it is to relive, these are relics of an important time in our country’s history and should be shared with our children and grandchildren so that it never happens again.

Something else that can be shared with our children is the 9/11 Memorial in Plover. A piece of steel from an I-beam that provided floor support in the World Trade Center has been on public display since 2011 when then-Lt. Ryan Fox of the Plover Police Department helped the village acquire the piece as a permanent memorial. Pieces of I-beams from the Twin Towers are also displayed in Wisconsin Rapids and Marshfield.

The village’s memorial stands in front of the Plover Municipal Center. Fire Chief Mark Deaver, whose office window faces the monument, says people visit it regularly.

Fox, now the village’s police chief, cleans the memorial I-beam every few months. He also penned the words inscribed on the memorial plaque:

“I’m glad we were able to get it [in the village],” Fox said. “We can’t forget; we can’t let the world forget.”

A second plaque explains the design of the memorial space:

Remember, freedom is never free. We must remain vigilant and be ready to stand up and fight for our freedom whenever necessary.”

The memorial is located in front of the Plover Municipal Center, 2400 Post Rd.