This Is My New Jersey

Today is September 10th, and just like 23 years ago on 9/11, it is a perfectly still day with a clear blue sky. The sun is shining and all is calm.

Last year I saw for the first time, a photo someone took of the parking lot at Giants Stadium a few days after the terrorist attacks. It was of the cars that remained in the commuter lot at the stadium. Every car represented a life lost. It was a stark reminder, as those cars stayed there for quite awhile. I can’t imagine the families that needed to go retrieve the car of their loved one.

The evening of 9/10, people were going about their normal, everyday tasks. Someone was finishing up packing for their flight in the morning. Another person was cleaning up from dinner and preparing their clothes for work. A mom was putting her child to bed. Some stayed up late to watch the Monday Night Football game that went past midnight.

It was just a typical day and evening. No one had any idea what would happen the next morning when the collective world would stop and watch in horror.

Twenty-three years. It still leaves me with no words.

And now…

There is now an entire generation that grew up without the feelings we all experienced. And I honestly don’t know how much they care.

I’ll start with something I heard during the winter. Young people on TikTok were sharing the “Letter to America” originally written by Osama Bin Laden. The letter lists all the reasons he felt we deserved this horrible atrocity. Many young people claimed they “sympathized” with Bin Laden and considered it “an awakening to America’s role in global affairs and expressed their disappointment in the United States,” according to reports by The New York Times and other media outlets.

I don’t even know how to address that one.

Another gut punch as we continued every closer was an ad I saw on television for the MTV Video Music Awards. I wasn’t particularly paying attention until I heard the date of the telecast; September 11th.

Wait, what?

Now, I will fully admit I have no idea how these things are scheduled. I am sure the planning starts within weeks after the most recent show. Didn’t anyone stop and think “is this really respectful?” or “maybe we should push this out by a few days?”

Honestly, I doubt it. After all, this is the channel that gave up on music videos and brings the masses such classics as 16 and Pregnant, Catfish, and my personal favorite, Jersey Shore. The television show that sparked this very blog.

Then I started to see meeting invites come in, doctor’s appointment scheduling requests, and the like. Seemingly everyday tasks on a day that is like no other.

I have to be honest, it doesn’t feel right.

And make no mistake, ladies and gentlemen, the use of social media to warp the minds of our young people and lead them astray is how we will end up suffering another terrorist attack.

“They will never understand”

A very good friend said she makes sure to discuss 9/11 with her children every year so they do not forget and truly understand the gravity of what happened. But she brought up an interesting point. They didn’t experience it first-hand. They will never feel all the emotions we felt. It gave me pause.

We all heard growing up about Pearl Harbor and the assassinations of President Kennedy, his brother, Bobby Kennedy, and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. We didn’t feel it first hand, but we knew they weren’t just dates in a history book.

Now, with the emergence of social media, and how easily it can twist young people’s beliefs, I just don’t know. Will they look at it as “cheap fakes?” Will they say they sympathize with those who sought to destroy us?

If Pearl Harbor happened now and World Ward II was fought today, would they fight? Or would they question how we brought this on ourselves?

I honestly don’t know the answer. And it breaks my heart.

Every year I listen to the reading of the names. The silence that surrounds the ringing of the bell at Ground Zero. I pray. I cry. Now, however, I pray and cry for a second reason. For our future.

So I would like ask everyone for a favor. Stop for a moment today and think about the everyday and mundane things you are doing. And then think back to 23 years ago, the day before we lost 3,000 souls, and what they were doing. It was like every other day. Until it wasn’t.

God bless those who were lost and their family and friends. I ask that you hold tight to that promise we all made to never forget. I ask you to pass that on to your children.