Freedom is a Promise We Must Keep
Sen. Joni Ernst warns that America's collective memory of September 11 is fading as more than half of Americans alive today were under 10 when the attacks occurred.
The dual milestones of America’s 250th anniversary and the approaching 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks demand renewed commitment to preserving national memory and the hard truths about freedom’s cost, according to Sen. Joni Ernst writing in Washington Examiner.
Sen. Joni Ernst, who served over 23 years in the Army Reserve and Iowa Army National Guard including a deployment to Kuwait and Iraq as a company commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom, warns that the nation’s collective memory of its defining moments is fading dangerously fast. The Iowa senator, who led troops in combat and informed families when their sons died in service, argues that honoring freedom requires far more than annual celebrations.
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks claimed nearly 3,000 lives, including hundreds of first responders who rushed into burning buildings. In the immediate aftermath, enlistment offices overflowed and Americans demonstrated unprecedented unity. The nation vowed never to forget.
Yet that unity and shared memory have steadily eroded over the past two decades. More than half of Americans alive today were under 10 years old on September 11, 2001. Voters participating in this year’s elections include individuals who were not yet born when the towers fell. Many current service members were infants at the time.
A 2022 YouGov poll revealed a troubling generational divide. Young adults feel far less connected to the events of September 11 than older generations, with many millennials and Generation Z respondents admitting they lack understanding of what the nation promised to remember. The defining moment of a generation is quietly becoming history that requires explanation rather than lived memory.
This shift is not inevitable, Ernst contends, but reversing it requires intention, urgency, and deliberate action. The 9/11 Legacy Foundation has emerged to meet this critical moment, working to educate current and future generations about the lasting impacts of the attacks while building monuments of memory designed to withstand the passage of time.
Independence Day and September 11 may appear to represent opposite ends of the American experience—one a celebration, the other a wound. Yet both are connected by the same fundamental truth that freedom is neither free nor self-sustaining. It must be actively defended and consciously preserved across generations.
With Saturday marking 250 years since the nation’s founding and September 11 marking the 25th anniversary of the 2001 attacks, Ernst emphasizes that remembrance without action amounts to mere sentiment. The 9/11 Legacy Foundation is transforming remembrance into concrete action, she notes, expressing hope that countless more Americans will join the effort.
The foundation operates under a simple but powerful motto that should guide every American: We remember so that they never forget.
With information from Washington Examiner
