Jenna Jacobs McPartland recalls watching the Today show on September 11, 2001, when she learned that her husband Ariel had been at the World Trade Center when it was attacked. Since then, America has struggled to cope with the aftermath of the terrorist attack, leading to discord and diminished moral authority both domestically and internationally. The article notes that over the past 25 years, victims' families like McPartland have learned to live with their grief, but the nation as a whole has not found a way to heal from the trauma of 9/11. According to the text, between fiscal years 1998-2001, the federal government recorded four consecutive budget surpluses.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-11,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
As clear as that cloudless September morning, Jenna Jacobs McPartland remembers the moment everything changed.
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everything → remember → moment
“I was cleaning the bathroom and watching the Today show in the background and nine months pregnant,” the 52-year-old recalls by phone.
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old → clean → phone
“I think they were showing ‘Today throws a wedding’ when the news broke in.”
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news → think → wedding
A plane had hit the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York.
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plane → hit → York
McPartland did not know that her husband, Ariel Jacobs, was attending a conference at its Windows on the World restaurant.
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husband → know → restaurant
“I called his office to say, ‘Hey, turn on the TV.
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I → call → TV
Do you guys know what’s going on?’
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what → know → ?
His assistant said, ‘Oh my God, Jenna, he’s there.’
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he → say → ?
The whole world disappeared and there was this sort of hollow collapsing feeling.”
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world → disappear → feeling
Ariel Jacobs did not live to see his son, Gabriel, born six days after September 11, 2001.
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Jacobs → live → September
McPartland, then living in Briarcliff Manor, New York, would marry twice more, set up a grief support charity, and become a chef and restaurateur.
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McPartland → live → charity
Each 9/11 anniversary, she has a picnic at the cemetery where a few pieces of bone from her late husband are buried.
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pieces → have → husband
Speaking from Fairfield, Connecticut, McPartland says: “Ari was an incredibly joyful person who cherished his life.
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who → speak → life
I made a conscious choice to honour him by living as joyfully as I can.
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I → make → him
It’s not always easy.
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It → ’ → ?
I still cry pretty frequently.
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I → cry → ?
If there’s a movie with a building getting blown up, or if I’m reading a book and they casually mention ‘post 9-11 this’ or whatever, it catches me off guard.
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it → ’ → guard
The grief finds a place to live in the heart, and you visit it.”
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you → find → it
McPartland and other victims’ families have learned to live with that grief over the past 25 years.
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McPartland → learn → years
But America writ large has struggled to carry the weight of the worst terrorist attack in its history.
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America → writ → history
The world’s most powerful nation responded by inflicting terror of its own, betraying its history as a safe harbour for immigrants, and pitting Americans against one another.
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nation → respond → one
The initial heroism, goodwill and unity of 9/11 gave way to discord at home and diminished moral authority abroad.
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heroism → give → home
McPartland adds: “It makes me incredibly sad and bordering on angry that the death of my husband has been invoked to cause more violence.
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death → add → violence
It is the othering of people that got him killed in the first place and, when we Americans fail to learn that lesson and choose collectively as a nation to other people, whether it’s immigrants or other nations, that is a deepening of that tragedy that is sickening and unfathomable to me.”
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that → get → me
On September 10, 2001 George W Bush travelled to Florida to push education reform legislation.
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Bush → travel → legislation
AOL was seeking a big stake in AT&T’s cable unit.
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AOL → seek → unit
Promising tennis player Lleyton Hewitt, 20, had just swept Pete Sampras aside to win the US Open.
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Hewitt → promise → Open
America seemed unassailable.
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America → seem → ?
It had won the cold war and enjoyed a relatively peaceful 1990s as “the indispensable nation”, in secretary of state Madeleine Albright’s framing.
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It → win → framing
From fiscal years 1998 to 2001, the federal government recorded four consecutive budget surpluses.
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government → record → surpluses
But what had been dubbed “the American century” came to an apocalyptic end on the next morning.
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dubbed → dub → morning
Nearly 3,000 people were killed as 19 al-Qaida hijackers seized control of four airliners, slamming two of the planes into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the fourth into a field in western Pennsylvania.
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hijackers → kill → Pennsylvania
Among the most wrenching images were office workers leaping to their deaths from the burning twin towers.
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workers → leap → towers
On the wall of the national September 11 museum in New York is a quotation from James Gilroy, a resident of lower Manhattan: “She had a business suit on, her hair was all askew …
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hair → have → Manhattan
This woman stood there for what seemed like minutes, then she held down her skirt and then jumped off the ledge …
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she → stand → ledge
I thought, how human, how modest, to hold down her skirt before she jumped.
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she → think → skirt
Unthinkably, both of the 110-storey towers collapsed, unleashing giant clouds of ash and dust on the streets of lower Manhattan as fragments of paper fluttered down like confetti.
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fragments → collapse → confetti
David Blight, a historian who advised the museum, which opened in 2014, said: “It’s the most visual event in history – so photographed, so much footage, so many documentaries.
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It → advise → history
It is so shocking, so horrifying that you can’t watch it without a certain weeping.
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you → watch → weeping
One of the things that should never stop about 9/11 is the essential grief of it.
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that → stop → it
…and 80 more, not listed.
