Newsletter Vol 2 No 9

September is an important month in our calendar for many reasons including marking the end of summer and the return to school for the beginning of the traditional academic year. It is also a somber time. While every day we remember the attacks on America on 9/11, this month we mark twenty-five years since the day our country and our way of life were attacked by terrorists who murdered nearly 3,000 people in one day and many others as the years passed. We remember the victims, their families, and the survivors, many of whom died and many who are continuing to cope with chronic illness and catastrophic loss.

The September 11 attacks were the deadliest terrorist attacks in human history, causing the deaths of 2,996 people, including 19 hijackers who committed murder-suicide and 2,977 victims. Thousands more were injured, and long-term health effects have arisen as a consequence of the attacks. New York City took the brunt of the death toll when the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan were attacked, with an estimated 1,700 victims from the North Tower and about a thousand from the South Tower. Two hundred miles southwest in Arlington County, Virginia another 125 people were killed in the Pentagon. The remaining 265 fatalities included the 92 passengers and crew of American Airlines Flight 11, the 65 aboard United Airlines Flight 175, the 64 aboard the American Airlines Flight 77, and the 44 aboard United Airlines Flight 93. The attack on the World Trade Center’s North Tower alone made the September 11 attacks the deadliest act of terrorism in human history.

Most of those who perished were civilians, except for: 344 members of the New York City Fire Department and the New York Fire Patrol; 71 law enforcement officers who died in the World Trade Center and on the ground in New York City; 55 military personnel who died at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia; a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Officer who died when Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania; and the 19 terrorists who died on board the four aircraft. At least 102 countries lost citizens in the attacks.

Initially, a total of 2,603 victims were confirmed to have been killed at the World Trade Center site. In 2007, the New York City medical examiner’s office began to add people who died of illnesses caused by exposure to dust from the site to the official death toll. The first such victim was a woman who died in February, 2002. Then in September, 2009, the office added a man who died in October, 2008, and in 2011, a man who had died in December, 2010, raising the number of victims from the World Trade Center site to 2,606, and the overall 9/11 death toll to 2,996.

As of August 2013, medical authorities concluded that 1,140 people who worked, lived, or studied in Lower Manhattan at the time of the attacks have been diagnosed with cancer as a result of “exposure to toxins at Ground Zero.” In September 2014, it was reported that over 1,400 rescue workers who responded to the scene in the days and months after the attacks had since died. At least 10 pregnancies were lost as a result of 9/11. Neither the FBI nor the New York City government officially recorded the casualties of the 9/11 attacks in their crime statistics for 2001, with the FBI stating in a disclaimer that “the number of deaths is so great that combining it with the traditional crime statistics will have an outlier effect that falsely skews all types of measurements in the program’s analyses.”

A quarter century has passed since the September 11th attacks, but for many, the emotions of the day remain raw as ever. Ceremonies will again this year be marked with solemn ceremonies in New York, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania as well as most other parts of our country. The commemorations will be punctuated by moments of silence, the tolling of bells and the reading of the names of the nearly 3,000 killed.

The 9/11 anniversary is often promoted as a day of national unity. Many in the crowd at ground zero will hold up photos of lost loved ones as a moment of silence marks the exact time when the first hijacked plane struck the iconic twin towers. Loved ones will then read aloud the names of the victims, with many giving personal remembrances, well wishes and updates on their lives.

Throughout 2026, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City will present public programs that invite audiences to examine the lasting impact of 9/11 over a quarter century through moderated conversations, panels, and performances. The series will bring together historians, policymakers, veterans, clinicians, journalists, artists, and members of the 9/11 community to explore both the immediate aftermath of the attacks and their long-term consequences.

At the Pentagon in Virginia, the 184 service members and civilians killed when hijackers steered a jetliner into the headquarters of the U.S. military will be honored in a ceremony.

And, in a rural field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a ceremony will be held to honor the victims of Flight 93, the hijacked plane that crashed after crew members and passengers tried to storm the cockpit.

Elsewhere, people mark the anniversary with service projects and charitable works as part of a National Day of Service. Volunteers will take part in food and clothing drives, park and neighborhood cleanups, blood banks and other community events. How will you mark this day?

In all, the attacks by al-Qaida militants killed 2,977 people, including many financial workers at the World Trade Center and firefighters and police officers who had rushed to the burning buildings trying to save lives.

The attacks reverberated globally, altering the course of U.S. foreign and domestic policy. It led to the “Global War on Terrorism,” and the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and related conflicts that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and troops.

The U.S. government has also spent billions of dollars providing health care and compensation to tens of thousands of people who were exposed to the toxic dust that billowed over parts of Manhattan when the twin towers collapsed.

While the hijackers died in the attacks, federal officials have struggled to conclude the long-running legal case against the man accused of masterminding the plot, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The former al-Qaida leader was arrested in 2003, and is now on trial.

Nearly 25 years have passed since the September 11, 2001, attacks, yet most of us still feel the emotions of that day.

You may, like so many others, feel the grief of that awful day and the grief from other losses. Everyone experiences their own, unique grief and ways of grieving. Grief will always be with us, like a wound that scabs and then, in time, becomes a scar. Grief becomes a part of you; a part of your identity. Here, at Inspire Behavioral Health, we are here to help you grow on a pathway through your grief. Please call us today and schedule an appointment to talk with one of our psychotherapists. You are not alone on 9/11, or any other day.