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Retired Louisiana firefighter warns 9/11 memory is fading more than 2 decades later
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BATON ROUGE — A retired Louisiana firefighter who worked at Ground Zero says the phrase "never forget" is fading from public memory more than two decades after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Michael McKinney spent his last night at the site searching through debris for human remains. He says the shift in public awareness is noticeable.
"I notice now you don't hear the 'never forget' anymore," McKinney said. "People have forgotten."
Army veteran Mark Cook says time creates distance from what happened, particularly for people who were not alive when the attacks occurred.
"I think people are a little numb to what happened," Cook said.
Cook says remembering also means understanding how quickly an ordinary day can change.
"Anything can happen, at any time, to any one, for any reason, to any of us," Cook said.
That message is now reaching a generation with no firsthand memory of the Sept. 11 attacks. For Christine, a ceremony brought the history closer.
"I never thought to think to put myself in that situation — what if I was there, what if I was alive at that time?" Christine said.
Kelsey says the day still matters to her even as others her age move on.
"It's really important to me even though most people my age don't concern themselves with it anymore," Kelsey said.
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