20 years ago on September 11, the world changed forever
Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images
20 years ago on September 11, the New York City skyline changed
forever. In a terrorist attack, two planes were hijacked and flown
into the World Trade Centre in America’s largest city. As well as
the Pentagon in Washington D.C., while a fourth plane crashed into
a field in Pennsylvania. Each and every one of us can recall
where we were that day. For those looking on in horror from
overseas, it was probably engrossed by television footage. In
Manhattan it may have been mere streets away.
Where smoke billowed from the twin towers and pictures of
missing loved ones were emblazoned onto shopfronts, is now replaced
by two powerful beams of light in the heart of ground zero. A
reminder in the evening of what once stood. And while many events
have come to define the city that never sleeps, an attempt to tear
people apart was dashed when people of all different race, ability,
sexuality and religion instead came together.
Revisiting the most defining pictures from the 9/11 attacks over
the past two decades has become no-less easy. Sadness will mar the
day for many. But it also serves as a reminder on how powerful we
are when unified.
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11: The south tower of the World Trade Center
collapses September 11, 2001 in New York City. (Photo by Thomas
Nilsson/ Getty Images)
394261 29: A woman reacts in terror as she looks up to see the
World Trade Center go up in flames September 11, 2001 in New York
City after two airplanes slammed into the twin towers in an alleged
terrorist attack. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty
Images)
During the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, motorists exit
their cars in disbelief and look on as smoke rises from the
buildings of the World Trade Center, Jersey City, New Jersey (3
miles West of Ground Zero), September 11, 2001. (Photo by Stuart
Lutz/Gado/Getty Images).
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11: Hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 from
Boston crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center and
explodes at 9:03 a.m. on September 11, 2001 in New York City. The
crash of two airliners hijacked by terrorists loyal to al Qaeda
leader Osama bin Laden and subsequent collapse of the twin towers
killed some 2,800 people. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty
Images)
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11: Firefighter Gerard McGibbon, of Engine 283
in Brownsville, Brooklyn, prays after the World Trade Center
buildings collapsed September 11, 2001 after two hijacked airplanes
slammed into the twin towers in a terrorist attack that killed some
3,000 people. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Crowds swarm over the Manhattan Bridge to leave Manhattan the
morning of the 9-11 attack. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis
via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11: The streets of downtown New York
are covered in debris after both World Trade Towers collapsed from
a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 in New York City. (Photo
by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
A survivor sits outside the World Trade Center after two planes hit
the building September 11, 2001 in New York City. (Photo by Jose
Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images)
394287 01: Guatemalan pedestrians watch on TV September 11, 2001 in
Guatemala City, Guatemala the moment when a second plane
commandeered by unknown hijackers slammed into New York’s World
Trade Center. (Photo by Andrea Nieto/Getty Images)
394375 15: Early morning light hits the smoke and wreckage of the
World Trade Center September 13, 2001 in New York City, two days
after the twin towers were destroyed when hit by two hijacked
passenger jets. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 13, 2001: A rescue worker is pulled from the
rubble of the World Trade Center September 13, 2001 in New York
City two days after two hijacked airplanes slammed into the twin
towers, levelling them and killing nearly 3,000 people. (Photo by
Mario Tama/Getty Images)
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11: An unidentified New York City firefighter
walks away from Ground Zero after the collapse of the Twin Towers
September 11, 2001 in New York City. The World Trade Center’s Twin
Towers and the Pentagon were attacked by terrorists using
commercial airliners as missiles.
Ray’s Pizza in Greenwich Village after the terrorist attacks on
September 11, 2001. (Photo by David Turnley/Getty
Images)
394261 204: Cancelled flights are displayed on monitors at the Los
Angeles Airport terminal September 10, 2001 in Los Angeles, CA. The
airport was closed after two planes bound for Los Angeles hit New
York City’s World Trade Center. (Photo by Jason Kirk/Getty
Images)
U.S. President George W. Bush sits at his desk in the Oval Office
after addressing the nation about the terrorist attacks on New York
and Washington, DC September11, 2001 in Washington, DC. (Photo by
Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 13, 2001: Rescue workers sift through the
wreckage of the World Trade Center September 13, 2001 in New York
City, two days after two hijacked airplanes slammed into the twin
towers, levelling them in an alleged terrorist attack. (Photo by
Mario Tama/Getty Images)
A couple holding each other are evacuating the area just minutes
before the World Trade Center collapses. (Photo by Jennifer S.
Altman/WireImage) *** Local Caption ***
President George W Bush embraces a firefighter as he speaks to the
firefighter during President Bush’s visit to New York during the
aftermath of the 9/11 incident, New York, New York, September 14,
2001. Image courtesy National Archives. (Photo via Smith
Collection/Gado/Getty Images).
NEW YORK: Workers gather before the last support beam from the
south tower of the former World Trade Center is removed and loaded
onto a flatbed truck during a ceremony at Ground Zero May 28, 2002
in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty
Images)
394304 07: Wellwishers cheer as recovery personnel drive by on
their way to the World Trade Center site September 12, 2001 in New
York City. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
