Unless you’ve just arrived from a distant planet and you’re reading this weblog before anything else, you’re aware that it’s been three years since the darkest day in modern history for the United States.

As a result, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say something.

I was on my way to work in Neenah, Wisconsin on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. It was a rather normal, sunny morning. Since my wife needed the car that day, she was dropping me off, which left my hands free to fiddle with the radio. I turned it on and got the shock of my life.

There have only been two other events that have managed to grab my attention like this. The first was January 28, 1986: I sat at home and cried when I learned of the Challenger disaster. I was over 3 hours late for work that day. The other was more recent, as I turned on the television to watch for news of the return of Columbia from the ISS; instead of seeing a short blurb following the safe return of the shuttle, I watched in horror as video showed us what remained of the space plane falling toward New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. Sixteen minutes from home.

That’s not to say that other things haven’t happened. However, I didn’t understand (and perhaps didn’t really believe in the reality of) the assassination attempt on President Reagan. I didn’t identify with David Koresh or his followers. The bombing of the Cole, the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and even Oklahoma City were tragic, but at the same time not symbolic for me. Columbine showed the depravity among us, and I was unmoved. You see, all of these events were understandable, in a twisted way. Not excusable, not right – clearly wrong! – but not unexpected, ultimately. I am a cynic by nature. I don’t expect the worst from human beings, but I generally find it easy to imagine what we’re capable of… so I’m not often surprised by the depths of the darkness around us.

Two things set Challenger, Columbia, and 9/11 apart from the rest of these events for me.

The first is that all three were “unimaginable” to me. I have a lot of faith in technology, from personal technology all the way up to the space shuttle, and I just don’t expect it to fail. This is unrealistic, but aside from Microsoft Windows, our technology works on a day-in, day-out basis. When it doesn’t, mission critical systems have backups and backups to the backups… right? That the Challenger would explode on ascent, that Columbia would break apart during descent, and that the World Trade Center towers would collapse is simply beyond my grasp. On the other hand, in the case of the 9/11 hijackings, it had never occurred to me that someone would actually commandeer planes of civilians to use as missiles. “These things don’t happen,” I told myself… rather persuasively.

The second is the horror that the people involved in all three of these events may have, and except for the Challenger disaster, almost certainly experienced. The crews of the two shuttles, the crew and passengers of the hijacked planes, and those trapped in the WTC towers may not have realized they were going to die until a moment before it happened. Even so, such a possibility had to be on their minds. Perhaps I personalize such things more than is healthy for me. Perhaps not. Right or wrong, though, this thought is hard to escape. I weep for the thought of these men, women, and even children realizing that their final moments are at hand and they’ll never be able to go back and say goodbye to their loves ones.

I spent all day on that fateful Tuesday attempting to go through my routine. Being responsible for Internet services at work, I got something of a respite when I was asked to block the web news sources – after all, they were crushing productivity for people who were just trying to get through the day, and people otherwise had radios and televisions tuned in everywhere – but honestly, what I remember is that things were definitely not normal. There was no anger, no pain, just mind-numbing shock and disbelief.

Terrorists attacked our nation on that bright, sunny morning. Ultimately, though, they didn’t win. They will never win as long as we remember.

We Will Never, We Must Never Forget.

Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. – George W. Bush, September 11, 2001

Special thanks to Michael at The Common Virtue for the link to the “never forget” presentation. (Via Blogs for Bush)