By Capt. Ben Summers
It’s been 11 years since the Sept. 11 attacks. I’ll never forget the silence in my Central Dauphin High School physics classroom as the second plane struck the tower.
I remember where I sat, what I wore and the hair-raising shock that struck my core. Minutes earlier, our principal had interrupted our teacher’s lesson plan, and when we turned on the classroom TV, smoke billowed toward the blue skies as the second plane entered the frame. Minutes later, the towers crumbled. Those two planes changed so many of our lives forever.
For me, Sept. 11 was a call to serve. When I entered West Point in 2002, our class motto was “Always ready, let’s roll,” a powerful reminder of our purpose as future soldiers and leaders. Before diverting his plane into the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania, an American stormed a cockpit full of terrorists, inspiring other passengers toward action with his final words, “Let’s roll!”
This simple phrase moves us beyond the darkness and doom of that fateful day. Sept. 11 tested our resolve as a nation. It tested our spirit. And as Americans, we responded the only way we knew how like the brave passenger and his “let’s roll” motto.
Through the last 11 years, hardship has only strengthened our nation’s character. We saw it in the days after the destruction as firefighters and rescue teams scavenged the carnage in Manhattan for survivors.
We saw it in our initial invasions and the subsequent decade of war, as families and their service members endured hardship and sacrifice to serve with dignity and honor in foreign lands. We saw it in our towns and communities as law enforcement officials put in place measures to protect us from threats. We saw it in our citizens as we treated one another with respect and resisted the misdirected hatred that can stem from extremists acts. Through these trials, the American spirit persevered.
On a broader scale, 9/11 reminds us of the distinctive traits that mold our national identity. The American dream isn’t necessarily the big house with the white picket fence. The American dream is the process — learning from mistakes, seizing opportunities and finding ways to improve and grow.
Our national values as a democracy and capitalist society depend on the basic concept of self-improvement, self-determination — the quintessential American grit. In America, turmoil and challenge lead to opportunity and growth. Even the atrocities of 9/11 couldn’t shatter this reality.
A few months ago, I visited the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. To stand near the memorial, to look up at the reconstructed Freedom Tower and the thousands of construction workers building the structure, to see the fire department banners hanging on its foundation or the American flags blowing in the wind, to stand there, at ground zero, is to see American character at its best.
We encounter hardship, but we come together, we overcome obstacles and we’re stronger because of it. That’s what Sept. 11 means to me.
Capt. Ben Summers, a native of Lower Paxton Twp., is stationed with the Army at Fort Campbell, Ky. He served two tours of duty in Afghanistan.