Twenty-five years.

It doesn't seem possible.

On September 11, 2026, America will mark a quarter century since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

For those old enough to remember that Tuesday morning, 25 years can somehow feel both incredibly long and impossibly short.

We remember where we were.

We remember who told us.

We remember turning on the television.

We remember watching something that didn't seem real slowly become a reality none of us could escape.

We remember the smoke rising from New York City.

We remember the Pentagon.

We remember learning about a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

We remember watching the towers fall.

And perhaps most of all, we remember the feeling that the world had changed before lunchtime.

On September 11, 2001, 2,977 people were killed in the attacks at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and aboard Flight 93. They came from more than 90 countries. Among them were office workers, travelers, flight crews, police officers, firefighters, military personnel, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, friends and neighbors.

Twenty-five years later, remembering those lives remains the most important reason we pause.

But this anniversary also gives us an opportunity to consider something else:

Just how much of the world we know today did not exist on September 11, 2001.

And just how much time has really passed.

A Baby Born That Morning Is Turning 25

Perhaps nothing puts 25 years into perspective better than this:

A child born on September 11, 2001, turns 25 years old on September 11, 2026.

That person isn't a child anymore.

They could have graduated from college several years ago.

They could be married.

They could own a home.

They could be managing employees.

They could be raising children of their own.

They have lived their entire lives in the world that came after September 11.

They have no memory of watching the attacks because they were being born while the rest of the country watched them unfold.

A five-year-old kindergartner on September 11, 2001 is around 30 today.

A 10-year-old is around 35.

A high-school senior from that fall is now about 43.

Someone who was 25 years old that morning is turning 50.

Someone who was 40 is now around 65 and approaching or already enjoying retirement.

That is what 25 years means.

An entire generation has grown up.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum notes that approximately 100 million Americans are now too young to remember September 11, 2001 firsthand.

For millions of Americans, 9/11 isn't a memory.

It is history.

There Are Adults Today Who Have Never Known the World Before 9/11

For those of us who remember September 11, this can be difficult to comprehend.

Today's college students weren't alive.

Many young parents weren't alive.

Young teachers are now explaining September 11 to students even though some of those teachers themselves have no firsthand memory of it.

For people born after 2001, airport security has always looked relatively familiar.

Going through a security checkpoint before boarding an airplane seems normal.

Removing prohibited items from luggage seems normal.

Restrictions around airport gates seem normal.

The idea that things worked differently before September 11 can sound like someone describing another era.

But they did.

In November 2001, just weeks after the attacks, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act created the Transportation Security Administration. The federalization and transformation of airport security that followed became one of the most visible changes in everyday American life after September 11.

The Department of Homeland Security followed. Created through the Homeland Security Act of 2002, DHS brought together 22 agencies and offices in what became one of the largest reorganizations of the federal government in decades.

A generation has now grown up considering those institutions simply part of America.

They don't remember the country before them.

Think About the Technology We Had in 2001

There is another way to understand how much time has passed.

Remember the technology you were carrying on September 11, 2001.

There was no iPhone.

There was no Facebook.

There was no YouTube.

There was no Twitter.

There was no Instagram.

There was no TikTok.

Smartphones as we know them today didn't exist.

Text messaging was still relatively new to many Americans.

Plenty of people still used dial-up internet connections at home.

Digital cameras existed, but millions of families still took pictures on film.

People printed directions from the internet before leaving home.

GPS navigation was nowhere near as ubiquitous as it is today.

If something important happened, most Americans didn't immediately pull a device out of their pocket and watch it unfold from hundreds of different camera angles.

On September 11, millions of us learned what was happening through television and radio.

People gathered around TVs in offices, schools, restaurants, waiting rooms, dealerships, factories and homes.

We called family members.

We tried to get through overloaded phone networks.

We waited for information.

Today, breaking news reaches a phone almost instantly.

Within seconds of an event, video can travel around the planet.

Twenty-five years ago, the information world operated differently.

Cars Have Changed Almost Beyond Recognition

Even the vehicles we drove tell the story of how long ago 2001 really was.

Look at a typical new vehicle today.

Large touchscreens.

Bluetooth.

Smartphone integration.

Navigation.

Backup cameras.

Blind-spot monitoring.

Automatic emergency braking.

Adaptive cruise control.

Lane-keeping technology.

Connected vehicle services.

Multiple airbags.

Sophisticated traction and stability systems.

Hybrid and electric powertrains.

In 2001, much of that either didn't exist in mainstream vehicles or was considered expensive, cutting-edge technology.

A 2001 model-year vehicle is now old enough in many states to qualify for historic or antique registration.

Vehicles that once filled high-school parking lots and suburban driveways have become nostalgia.

The teenagers who drove them are now buying vehicles for their own teenagers.

That's 25 years.

Communication Has Changed

September 11 happened before social media became the center of modern communication.

That fact alone makes 2001 seem like another world.

There was no endless social-media feed documenting every second of the day.

There were no viral videos in the modern sense.

No hashtags.

No push notifications from a dozen news applications.

No group chats containing every family member.

No smartphone cameras recording nearly every major event from dozens of viewpoints.

The internet existed, of course, and online news was becoming increasingly important.

But the country's shared experience largely happened through the same handful of television networks and cable news channels.

Millions of people were watching the same images at the same time.

Twenty-five years later, Americans consume information through countless platforms.

We can know more, faster, than ever before.

But we also experience major events in a much more fragmented media environment.

September 11 belonged to an era when much of the country stopped and watched together.

Travel Changed Forever

Perhaps nowhere was the immediate change more noticeable than air travel.

Ask someone old enough to remember flying before September 11 what airports were like.

Family members could often accompany travelers much farther into airports than they can today.

Security procedures were different.

The cockpit-security environment was different.

The assumptions passengers made about hijackings were different.

September 11 changed those assumptions almost instantly.

Airport checkpoints became more extensive.

Passenger screening changed.

Security responsibilities changed.

Cockpit doors were strengthened.

Government agencies reorganized.

International intelligence and counterterrorism efforts changed.

For an entire generation, today's system is simply how flying works.

For older generations, there remains a clear dividing line:

before September 11 and after September 11.

America Went to War

The consequences of September 11 reached far beyond airports.

America entered wars that would shape the lives of an entire generation of service members and their families.

Thousands of young Americans who watched the attacks as children eventually joined the military.

Others were already serving when September 11 happened and suddenly found their careers transformed.

Military families experienced deployments, homecomings, injuries and loss.

Communities across the country welcomed veterans home.

Some didn't come home.

And the effects did not end when the headlines moved on.

The conflicts that followed September 11 became some of the longest in American history.

For many Americans born around 2001, the country being at war somewhere overseas was simply part of the background of their childhood.

Our Understanding of Security Changed

Before September 11, terrorism existed.

Americans had experienced attacks before.

The World Trade Center itself had been bombed in 1993.

The Oklahoma City bombing occurred in 1995.

The bombing of the USS Cole occurred in 2000.

But September 11 changed how Americans thought about the possibility of a catastrophic attack occurring here at home.

Buildings changed security procedures.

Public events changed.

Airports changed.

Government buildings changed.

Law enforcement changed.

Intelligence agencies changed.

Emergency planning changed.

The word "homeland security" entered everyday American vocabulary.

Some of those changes are visible.

Others operate quietly in the background.

Twenty-five years later, many Americans don't remember why certain procedures exist.

They have simply always been there.

New York Changed—and Rebuilt

The images of Lower Manhattan on September 11 are permanently burned into our national memory.

But a 25-year-old visiting New York today sees a very different place.

The site where the Twin Towers stood has become a place of remembrance.

The National September 11 Memorial includes two enormous reflecting pools set within the footprints of the original towers. Around them are the names of those killed in the September 11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

One World Trade Center now rises above Lower Manhattan.

Businesses returned.

Families returned.

Tourists returned.

Life continued.

But remembrance became part of the landscape.

That balance—rebuilding without forgetting—is perhaps one of the most important legacies of the past 25 years.

What Hasn't Changed?

A lot of this anniversary will naturally focus on how different the world is.

But September 11 also reminds us of things that haven't changed.

People still run toward danger when others are running away.

Firefighters still enter burning buildings.

Police officers still respond when people need help.

EMTs and medical personnel still arrive without knowing exactly what they will encounter.

Members of the military still volunteer to serve.

Neighbors still help neighbors.

Strangers still help strangers.

Those things existed before September 11.

We simply saw them displayed on an enormous scale that day.

Among those killed were 343 FDNY firefighters, 37 Port Authority Police Department officers and 23 New York Police Department officers.

They weren't statistics that morning.

They were people who went to work.

And when the unthinkable happened, they went toward it.

Remember the Passengers of Flight 93

One of the most powerful stories from September 11 happened aboard United Airlines Flight 93.

After learning that other hijacked aircraft had been used as weapons, passengers and crew members aboard Flight 93 took action.

They fought back.

The aircraft crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone aboard but preventing the hijackers from reaching their intended target in Washington.

Forty passengers and crew members were killed on Flight 93.

Their actions remain one of the clearest examples of courage from that morning.

These were ordinary people suddenly confronted with an extraordinary situation.

They chose to act.

Twenty-five years later, their story deserves to continue being told.

Remembering Is Becoming a Responsibility

For the first decade or two after September 11, most American adults could remember the attacks personally.

That is changing.

Every year, a larger percentage of the population knows September 11 only through history books, documentaries, photographs, museums and stories told by people who were there.

That creates a responsibility for those of us who remember.

"Never Forget" cannot simply mean remembering where we were.

It has to mean telling the next generation what happened.

Tell them about the people who died.

Tell them about the first responders.

Tell them about Flight 93.

Tell them about the firefighters climbing stairwells while everyone else was coming down.

Tell them about the people lining up to donate blood.

Tell them about American flags appearing on homes and businesses.

Tell them about candlelight vigils.

Tell them about communities gathering together.

Tell them about the fear.

But also tell them about the courage.

A 25-Year-Old May Ask What America Felt Like That Day

Imagine explaining September 11 to someone born that morning.

You can explain what happened factually.

Four airplanes were hijacked by 19 terrorists from al-Qaeda.

Two struck the World Trade Center.

One struck the Pentagon.

One crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew fought back.

The attacks killed 2,977 people.

Those facts are essential.

But they don't completely explain September 11 to someone who didn't experience it.

How do you describe the silence?

How do you describe watching the television and realizing there might still be more attacks coming?

How do you describe seeing fighter jets overhead in places where you had never noticed them before?

How do you describe an entire nation suddenly calling family members just to hear their voices?

How do you describe how strange it was to look into an empty sky after commercial aviation was grounded?

How do you explain the feeling when the first tower collapsed?

Some parts of history cannot be captured entirely in dates and numbers.

They survive through human stories.

The Children of 2001 Are Now the Adults of 2026

This may be one of the defining realities of the 25th anniversary.

The children born into the world of September 11 now help run it.

They are teachers.

Police officers.

Firefighters.

Soldiers.

Nurses.

Doctors.

Mechanics.

Farmers.

Business owners.

Parents.

Engineers.

Tradespeople.

Coaches.

Community leaders.

Some have children of their own.

They inherited a world profoundly shaped by something they cannot personally remember.

That is why this anniversary matters differently from the 10th or even the 20th.

We are crossing further from living memory into history.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum has made educating younger generations a central part of this 25th-anniversary commemoration, noting the enormous number of Americans now too young to remember the attacks themselves.

There will eventually come a day when no one alive remembers September 11 firsthand.

Our job is to make sure remembering does not end then.

The World Has Changed. The Names Have Not.

Buildings have been rebuilt.

Technology has advanced.

Governments have changed.

Presidents have changed.

Wars have begun and ended.

Children have become adults.

Adults have become grandparents.

The skyline has changed.

Our phones have changed.

Our vehicles have changed.

The way we travel has changed.

The way we communicate has changed.

Nearly everything about daily life has moved forward in some way.

But the names of those lost on September 11 have not changed.

They are still someone's father.

Someone's mother.

Someone's son.

Someone's daughter.

Someone's husband.

Someone's wife.

Someone's brother.

Someone's sister.

Someone's friend.

Twenty-five years does not make their lives less important.

If anything, the passage of time makes remembering them more important.

Twenty-Five Years Later, Never Forget

On September 11, 2026, there will be adults heading to work who weren't alive on September 11, 2001.

There will be parents dropping children off at school who were babies themselves when the attacks happened.

There will be young Americans learning about September 11 in a classroom the way earlier generations learned about Pearl Harbor.

And there will still be millions of us who remember.

We remember the clear September morning.

We remember the television.

We remember the confusion.

We remember the towers.

We remember the smoke.

We remember the heroes.

We remember the people who never came home.

Twenty-five years have passed.

An entire generation has grown up.

The world is different.

America is different.

We are different.

But some promises should survive the passage of time.

Remember the 2,977 lives lost.

Remember the families whose lives changed forever.

Remember the first responders.

Remember those who served in the years that followed.

Remember the courage shown by ordinary people faced with extraordinary circumstances.

And make sure the generation that cannot remember September 11 understands why the rest of us never want to forget it.

September 11, 2001 — September 11, 2026

Twenty-five years later, we remember.