It has been 25 years since the September 11 attacks changed the world. For many of us in Belfast and across Northern Ireland, the memories of that day remain remarkably clear.
There are certain moments in history when almost everyone can answer the same question:
Where were you when you heard?
September 11, 2001 is one of them.
Twenty-five years ago today, people across Northern Ireland turned on televisions at home, at work, in schools, shops and offices and watched events unfolding thousands of miles away in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
At first, it was difficult to understand what we were seeing.
Then came the second plane.
Suddenly there was no question that something unimaginable was happening.
For anyone old enough to remember that Tuesday afternoon, the pictures of smoke pouring from the World Trade Center, people staring upwards from the streets of Manhattan and, eventually, the towers collapsing became images that would never really leave us.
Thousands of miles away — but incredibly close
Geographically, Belfast and New York are separated by an ocean.
Emotionally, the distance has always felt much smaller.
Northern Ireland’s relationship with the United States runs through generations of families. Countless people here have relatives in New York, Boston and cities across America. Others have lived or worked there, travelled there or watched sons, daughters, brothers and sisters leave Northern Ireland to build lives on the other side of the Atlantic.
New York in particular has long had a powerful connection with the Irish.
That meant that as the scale of the attacks became apparent, people here weren’t simply watching something happening in another country.
Phones were ringing.
Families were trying to contact relatives.
People were waiting to hear that friends were safe.
And behind the unimaginable numbers were individual people and families — including many with Irish connections.
2,977 lives
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks of September 11.
The official death toll of 2,977 victims represents far more than a number.
They were people who had gone to work that morning.
People who boarded flights.
Firefighters, police officers and other emergency workers who ran towards danger while thousands of others desperately tried to escape it.
Parents who expected to come home that evening.
Sons and daughters whose families waited for a phone call that would never come.
People from dozens of countries and backgrounds lost their lives.
For families affected by that day, September 11 isn’t simply an historic anniversary. It is the anniversary of losing someone they loved.
We all remember where we were
Perhaps that is why, even a quarter of a century later, September 11 occupies such a distinctive place in our collective memory.
Ask someone in Belfast who was old enough in 2001 what they were doing when they first heard about the attacks and there is a good chance they can tell you.
Many of us remember the television being switched on.
We remember initially thinking the first crash must have been a terrible accident.
We remember seeing the second aircraft hit.
We remember watching the towers fall.
And we remember the strange feeling afterwards that the world had suddenly become a different place.
There was no social media feed delivering constant updates. Many people heard through television, radio, colleagues, friends or a phone call telling them to turn on the news.
Then millions watched together.
A world that changed in a single day
The consequences of September 11 reached far beyond New York.
Air travel changed. Security changed. International politics changed. Wars followed. Language and attitudes surrounding terrorism and security became part of everyday life.
For a generation growing up today, airport security checks, restrictions on liquids and many of the precautions associated with modern travel have simply always existed.
For those who remember travelling before 2001, the difference is striking.
And yet, 25 years later, perhaps the most enduring memories aren’t about politics or security.
They’re about people.
The office workers helping colleagues down stairwells.
The passengers and crew aboard the aircraft.
The firefighters climbing upwards into the towers while others were coming down.
The police officers, paramedics and ordinary New Yorkers who helped strangers.
And the families around the world waiting desperately for news.
Belfast remembers
Northern Ireland knows what it means for individual families to carry the consequences of events that become part of history.
Perhaps that is another reason images of ordinary people caught up in an extraordinary act of violence resonated so deeply here.
Twenty-five years is a long time.
Children born after September 11 are now adults. Many of today’s schoolchildren know the Twin Towers only through photographs, documentaries and lessons about a day that happened before they were born.
For millions of others, however, it doesn’t feel like distant history.
You can still remember the room.
The television.
The voices around you.
That feeling of disbelief.
And the moment you realised you were watching something the world would talk about for generations.
Today, Belfast joins people across America, Ireland and around the world in remembering the 2,977 people who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, their families, the survivors and the emergency responders whose lives were changed forever.
Twenty-five years later, we still remember.
And we still know exactly where we were.
LoveBelfast — The Voice of Modern Belfast
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