20 years since 9/11

It's been 20 years since that fateful day of September 11, 2001. It's true what they say that events like that terrorist attack that killed and injured thousands. You remember where you were, what you were doing, and what you thought about that day. I had to write these myself to preserve my memories in writing. To my recall, I've written about 9/11 thrice in this blog:

Here's what I wrote last year: https://reginsrealm.blogspot.com/2020/08/where-were-you-when.html

Here's what I wrote 10 years ago: https://reginsrealm.blogspot.com/2011/09/10-years-ago-911.html

Here's what I wrote 11 years ago: https://reginsrealm.blogspot.com/2010/09/91101.html

That last one I think was my first written recollection of the events. I would like to think that

Sometimes, I think about the "what if's" about this topic. What if there was no 9/11? Would the world have been different? Was it inevitable that something like it would eventually happen? If not in New York, then somewhere else perhaps? 20 years gives us more perspectives and in history, that number of years removed from the events provides a somewhat different context than when it was still so fresh and people's emotions or feelings about the event were so strong. It is also interesting that the US has just completed withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan. It's said that this 20 year engagement there as a result of 9/11 cost them even more (trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives lost). I will not write an assessment of that but years from now and perhaps with other developments, we will have another, different interpretation and understanding of 9/11.

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