9/11 Attacks: Never Forget, Even If You Can’t Remember

As you read this today, I’ll be at my alma mater in Ithaca, N.Y., helping the Cornell College Republicans and Democrats plant 2,977 flags in memory of the innocent lives lost on September 11, 2001. It will be the first time that we take on this particular task — in past years we’ve used far fewer flags — but it will be just the next incarnation of a long tradition of honoring the dead and giving back to those who rose to the occasion in the aftermath of the attacks by raising money for their local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter.

For the Republicans, this has long been a meaningful event. Two years ago, we invited the Democrats to join us, and they gladly accepted. For all four of my years in Ithaca, I helped staff the table where we accepted donations on the main campus quad. The university, despite its surplus of students from the New York City area, does very little to recognize the date’s significance. No university-sponsored events, no moment of silence, nothing. So our little tribute constitutes the only indication that there’s anything unusual about this day.

About the Author

Isaac Schorr

Isaac Schorr is an editor at Mediaite and a 2023–2024 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow at the Fund for American Studies.

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As you read this today, I’ll be at my alma mater in Ithaca, N.Y., helping the Cornell College Republicans and Democrats plant 2,977 flags in memory of the innocent lives lost on September 11, 2001. It will be the first time that we take on this particular task — in past years we’ve used far fewer flags — but it will be just the next incarnation of a long tradition of honoring the dead and giving back to those who rose to the occasion in the aftermath of the attacks by raising money for their local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter.

For the Republicans, this has long been a meaningful event. Two years ago, we invited the Democrats to join us, and they gladly accepted. For all four of my years in Ithaca, I helped staff the table where we accepted donations on the main campus quad. The university, despite its surplus of students from the New York City area, does very little to recognize the date’s significance. No university-sponsored events, no moment of silence, nothing. So our little tribute constitutes the only indication that there’s anything unusual about this day.