This article is an opinion piece reflecting on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The author recalls the emotional impact of seeing missing person signs in New York City and highlights that victims came from over 90 countries. The piece includes excerpts from a poem, "Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100," by Martín Espada, commemorating the hotel workers who died at Windows on the World restaurant.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-12,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On October 8, 2024, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was killed, an event that has become a significant marker for young conservatives in America, akin to September 11, 2001 and the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023. The day of his death is now referred to by some as 9/10, symbolizing its impact on political activism among students. Meanwhile, the small Canadian town of Gander played a pivotal role during the September 11 attacks when U.S. airspace was closed, leading to 38 international flights landing there, doubling the population overnight and necessitating an impromptu humanitarian effort by locals to aid around 7,000 stranded passengers and crew members for several days. This act of kindness inspired the Broadway musical "Come From Away," which highlights Gander's generosity and humanity in times of crisis.
Written for “9/11 Anniversary Reflections” on 2026-09-12,
grounded in this article and the 167 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted
verbatim and was checked against the article text before being
stored, so you can find it in the original.
Leaning score -0.25 for article 8161 (high confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-09-12
25 years on, a nation still mourns
asserted
nation → mourn → ?
Yesterday marked a quarter century since the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
asserted
Yesterday → mark → attacks
I still remember — I will always remember —walking the streets of Lower Manhattan through rows of faces in photographs pasted on lampposts and walls with urgent, wrenching words:
"Have you seen my wife?" "Last seen, 8:20 AM, Tuesday."
asserted
you → remember → wife
"Have you seen our daughter?" "…our father?" "…my best friend?"
asserted
you → see → father
The question marks pierced into you like hooks.
asserted
marks → pierce → hooks
But America is made up of the world.
asserted
America → make → world
The 2,977 people who were killed that day included people from more than 90 nations -- Canada, India, Great Britain, South Korea, the Dominican Republic and more.
asserted
who → kill → nations
This week, I remembered a poem dedicated to the 43 members of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union who came to work that morning at Windows on the World restaurant, atop the World Trade Center's North Tower.
asserted
who → remember → Tower
None of them survived the tower's collapse.
asserted
None → survive → collapse
The poem is called 'Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100', by Martín Espada.
asserted
poem → call → Espada
It reads, in part:
Praise Manhattan from a hundred and seven flights up, like Atlantis glimpsed through the windows of an ancient aquarium.
asserted
It → read → aquarium
Praise the great windows where immigrants from the kitchen could squint and almost see their world, hear the chant of nations: Ecuador, México, Republica Dominicana, Haiti, Yemen, Ghana, Bangladesh.
uncertain
immigrants → praise → nations
Praise the kitchen in the morning, where the gas burned blue on every stove and exhaust fans fired their diminutive propellers, hands cracked eggs with quick thumbs or sliced open cartons to build an altar of cans.
asserted
hands → praise → cans
Praise the dish-dog, the dishwasher who worked that morning because another dishwasher could not stop coughing, or because he needed overtime to pile the sacks of rice and beans for a family floating away on some Caribbean island plagued by frogs.
uncertain
he → praise → frogs
Praise the waitress who heard the radio in the kitchen and sang to herself about a man gone.
asserted
who → praise → man
After the thunder wilder than thunder, after the shudder deep in the glass of the great windows-
Twenty-five years later, we still shudder to think of that day, and pause to praise those we lost in that thunder.
asserted
we → shudder → thunder
All rights reserved.
asserted
rights → reserve → ?
