Reporters Notebook: 9/11 is just a history chapter for a new generation of Americans

Its faded.

Not from decay. Not from neglect. Its simply the passage of time.

The memories are vague. Elusive. Distant. And some who lived it are simply no longer here.

Roughly one-third of all Americans who were alive on 9/11 arent around anymore to observe the 25th anniversary of that abominable day. And so the recollections of Sept. 11, 2001, are diluted.

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To some, Sept. 11 is just another day. But its something different for those who werent around to live and breathe the horror.

To many, 9/11 is like Pearl Harbor Day. Lots of people know about it. They understand its what triggered the U.S.s entry into World War II. But they cant quite explain much more.

The same with other historical-shifting moments. Aug. 6 and 9, 1945 — the days the U.S. bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, effectively ending World War II. Nov. 22, 1963 — the day a gunman mowed down President John F. Kennedy Jr. in Dallas.

A lot of people remember the Space Shuttle Challenger exploding. But few could tell you that it happened on Jan. 28, 1986.

The quintessence of 9/11 is the date. Kind of like July 4th. A bit like Jan. 6 and the Capitol riot. However, we were told on Sept. 11, 2001, that things would never be the same. But how can those who didnt experience it understand what "the same" was like if they never lived it?

Just last month, a relative of mine who soon turns 26 asked, "What it was like to fly before 9/11?"

I can regale you with stories about myself and a rag-tag group of high school friends, driving to the Cincinnati airport, clearing security and just wandering around the Delta gates, "hanging out" back in the mid-1980s.

No ticket. No questions asked. Just a visit to Cinnabon.

But the "before times" question about 9/11 is a broader conversation. Its not just about "what changed" when you take off your shoes and bustle through security to fly.

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A nine-and-a-half-foot-tall plaque hangs in the East Front vestibule of the U.S. Capitol near the Rotunda. It commemorates Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pa., on 9/11.

It took a few years, but the U.S. intelligence services finally determined that the fourth plane was bound for the U.S. Capitol. Thats where Todd Beamer and a cadre of everyday Americans voted (mind you, at 35,000 feet) to commandeer a drinks cart and rush the cockpit in an effort to seize control of the plane.

"Lets roll!" Beamer was overheard saying on a cellphone as they charged down the aisle. That two-word phrase became a battle cry for a nation as it waged the war on terrorism.

The Boeing 757 hurtled toward Washington at 563 mph. It was 20 minutes out from the federal city when the plane crashed, upside down, in the Pennsylvania countryside.

Shanksville is now one of those places forever notched into American history. A place not as famous, say, as Gettysburg or Jamestown, but not a footnote, either. Shanksville is part of the vernacular like Shiloh, Seneca Falls, Kent.

People might know that something historic happened there. But they arent exactly sure what.

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