{"id":1955,"date":"2026-09-11T09:54:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T14:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/warrens-voice.com\/?p=1955"},"modified":"2026-09-11T14:12:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:12:30","slug":"what-9-11-taught-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/warrens-voice.com\/?p=1955","title":{"rendered":"What 9\/11 Taught Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For everyone who remembers it, 9\/11 is branded into our hearts and minds in a unique way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I was only nine years old on September 11, 2001, and yet I can remember it in vivid detail. I was playing outside. I remember the weather was cool in Des Moines that day. I was wearing gray sweatpants and an Oakland Raiders T-shirt which my mom must have thrifted because I have never in my life been a Raiders fan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was lost in a world of imagination, swinging a stick around, probably pretending to be either a knight or a Civil War soldier. But I was abruptly taken out of my fantasy world and brought into a dark world that was very real. My mom called me inside. She wanted me to see what was happening. She knew it was important for me to see this; important for me to remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The towers were burning. I would watch them fall. As a nine-year-old boy I watched people jump to their deaths to avoid the flames. I heard the update live when the Pentagon was hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At some point, my mom turned to my dad and said, \u201cWe are under attack\u201d. What a statement. \u201cWe<\/em> are under attack\u201d. I had never seen New York City or Washington D.C. in my life. I didn\u2019t know any of the people directly affected by what was happening. And yet, that\u2019s exactly what I believed in my heart. We<\/em> were under attack. We<\/em> Americans<\/em> were being attacked. I<\/em>, an American boy in Iowa, was under attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a sense of American unity in the days following 9\/11 that I\u2019ve never seen before or since. I think every car I passed had a bumper sticker saying, \u201cUnited We Stand\u201d. Nearly every house in our neighborhood flew an American flag. We all felt the same way. We<\/em> had been attacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a nine-year-old, I learned a lot of new words on September 11, 2001. I learned there was this religion called Islam. I learned about a place called the Middle East. I\u2019d heard of terrorism before, but only from watching old Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. I learned it was a real thing and not just something in action movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My boyhood interaction with 9\/11 fundamentally changed the way I thought about life. This cemented in my mind that America was my home and her enemies were my enemies. It also made me realize that the world was a scary place and there were bad men in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That night after I went to bed, I discovered I couldn\u2019t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw two burning towers. I crawled out of bed and told my mom I was scared. She told me, in so many words, to trust God and be brave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-five years later, the lessons of that day are still fresh in my mind. The United States of America, for all her flaws and defects, is still my home, and I will defend her from all enemies foreign and domestic. I long for a nation that can unite in the face of real evil in this world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, every night when I tuck my kids into bed, I tell them to trust God and be brave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua Stilwell is the editor of Warren’s Voice<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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