25 years after the horrific 9/11 attacks, Americas collective memory is fading but the lessons learned mustnt be forgotten

More than 100 million of today’s Americans weren’t yet born a quarter century ago, on the day of the greatest act of mass murder on US soil; however incredible it seems to those who lived through 9/11, those events are fading from collective memory — yet some lessons must last.Islamist fanatics launched an invidious attack on us, the West and Western values; their weapons were the products of Western technology, aimed as missiles at twin marvels of Western engineering.They killed 3,000 Americans before noon on a cloudless Tuesday morning.The terrorists targeted symbols of America’s greatness: The Twin Towers of New York City, emblems of capitalism and liberty; the Pentagon, the center of American might, and (most likely) the Capitol, where democracy lives and breathes.Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the evil assault and spiritual leader of the death-worshipping al Qaeda cult, issued a 1998 fatwa calling it the “individual duty of every Muslim” to “kill the Americans and their allies, military and civilian.”The plot was intended to spark a holy war, bringing down all Muslim governments in favor of a Caliphate that would rule by the laws of 7th century Arabia, and to collapse the morale of the decadent West.It failed on both counts.For the people the terrorists killed were not abstract symbols of ruthless capitalism or Western imperialism, but real men and women of all ages, races and creeds, from at least 90 nations: cops, bankers, janitors and secretaries; parents, spouses, sons and daughters, friends and lovers — and Americans responded accordingly.The stories of those we lost are part of the lessons that must last, to keep their memories alive, and to keep fresh our purpose going forward in defense of the American way of life and in opposition to the enemy that took their lives.The first certified victim of the 9/11 attacks was Fr.Mychal Judge, a beloved priest and FDNY chaplain well-known for his good works, especially his ministry to peopl...