Former president Barack Obama has described how America has ‘always been a home to heroes who run towards danger’ as he honoured the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
Obama is one of the many Americans paying tribute to those who lost their lives on this day two decades ago, when two hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center in New York City, another crashed in Pennsylvania, and a fourth struck the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
In a statement released on Twitter, Obama honoured the ‘nearly 3,000 men, women, and children who died on September 11, 2001′.
Thousands more people went on to lose their lives in the months and years after 9/11, including those who fought in the subsequent war in Afghanistan. Obama made sure to honour these people as well as he acknowledged ‘even more who lost their lives in service to our country in the two decades since’.
The former president described the anniversary as an opportunity to reflect on ‘what we’ve learned in the 20 years since that awful morning’, explaining that while the ‘list of lessons is long and growing’, one thing that became clear on 9/11 is that ‘America has always been home to heroes who run towards danger in order to do what is right’.
Obama also reflected on the ‘image’ of ‘firefighters running up the stairs… the passengers deciding to storm the cockpit… [and] the volunteers showing up at recruiters’ officers across the country in the days that followed’, noting that ‘we’ve seen the same courage and selflessness on display again and again’ in the years that followed.
He described seeing it a decade ago when ‘our military brought justice to Osama bin Laden’, as well as today in ‘the doctors and nurses… doing what they can to save lives’.
Concluding his statement, Obama said that the anniversary of the attacks reminds us ‘how so many Americans give of themselves in extraordinary ways’, stressing how we must never take these people for granted.
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Topics: Life, 9/11, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Now, september 11, September 11 attacks
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