It took twenty years for the date to become meaningless to a lot of people.

• President George W. Bush

Today we commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the attacks of September 11th. Two decades on, the events of that day continue to have profound impacts on our lives as Americans. Sadly, a whole generation has grown up in a post-9/11 world, and today is a story from a textbook as opposed to a lived experience.

The documentary crew gained access to all of the key players from the Bush administration and chronicled their experience on September 11, 2001. President Bush, the Vice President, his Chief of Staff, members of the National Security team, Secret Service agents, members of the White House press corps, and military leaders all sat for interviews. What resulted was a compelling and visceral tick-tock of that fateful day.

Watching, I felt the emotions from 9/11 come back. Although I was in middle school, I was in a military family stationed nearby. My dad went off to war, again, as a result of 9/11. It was incredible how the sounds and images of that day are so ingrained in me.

The human toll is hard to fathom. Not only did nearly 3,000 people lose their lives, but so many more died slow deaths over the twenty years that followed as a result of their rescue work in the days that followed.

There is no doubt this was a difficult documentary to watch. It was even more painful watching it in the shadow of the disastrous surrender in Afghanistan. It was very well done and I hope that it will help those too young to remember and those not born yet just why September 11th is such an important day in our nation’s history.

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