Echoes of Tragedy

Today is September 11, 2025. It has been exactly 24 years since my father woke me up during my first week of University (I commuted to a nearby school) with a somber tone: "Come downstairs now".

I got downstairs just in time to see United Airlines flight 175 fly into the South Tower of the World Trade Center live on national television. It took seconds for my brain to process, then I uttered involuntarily "We've been attacked."

The day blurred into a haze. After frantically reaching my mother (who commuted down the 395 corridor by the Pentagon, hit by American Airlines flight 77), I was glued to the television trying to make sense of my shattering worldview. I witnessed desperate people leap from the towers to escape flames. I saw death, terror, and hysteria. I saw evil.

Yet I also saw heroes, like the first reported casualty of 9/11: Roman Catholic Priest and FDNY Chaplain Father Mychal Judge, who offered absolution to those who leapt to their deaths.

It was a devastating day that haunts all who witnessed it. Nearly 3,000 people violently perished in that horrific attack on our nation and its ideals.

I hoped to never again feel such tragedy that befell the United States of America that day.

A New Wound, Decades Later

23 years, 11 months, 30 days, and a handful of hours later, I was glued to my X feed, piecing together horror.

It all began with a text from my mother saying "Say a prayer for Charlie Kirk and our nation." Mom doesn't usually say "Say a prayer" for someone unless they died. My heart sank into my stomach.

Opening X, videos flooded my feed: Kirk struck in the throat by a bullet at a Utah event, blood gushing as he clutched his neck. My heart plummeted—and stayed there.

For the past day, I've felt echoes of 2001: anger, sadness, heartbreak. Our nation attacked by violence again. A man killed for exercising his First Amendment rights.

Worse still: reactions celebrating his death, some gleeful. My anger ignited into deeper fury.

Evil assaulted our ideals once more—HD footage of a man dying because someone disagreed with him. As a child, I learned of heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, slain for their words. I thought we'd outgrown this. How naive.

Has it really come to this? Are we this divided?

I see now how naive I was even 48 hours ago. Recent elections fueled division between left and right, but I didn't grasp we'd tipped into violence. Like 9/11, Kirk's assassination feels like a societal rupture. This frog is suddenly aware of the boiling water. Media coverage shows I'm not alone.

How Do We Heal?

I've heard Fr. Mike Schmitz say

"I might not know the meaning of this moment, but if I am convinced there is a God who loves me, then this moment has meaning."

Discerning God's will in horror is impossible, but here's my humble offering: Pray for Charlie Kirk's repose. For his wife and children. For our country. For yourself. Lay sorrows at Jesus' feet; gaze upon the Cross as our hope.

Father in Heaven,
Please welcome Your son Charlie into Your everlasting embrace.
Please be near to and strengthen his wife and children in this time of their dire need.
Please touch the lives of those filled with hatred for Your son Charlie so that they may come to know You and repent of their evil.
LORD, though we do not know Your ways, we ask that You help us to trust in You and your plan.
In the mighty name of Jesus Christ
Amen.

In the shadow of these twin tragedies—separated by decades but united in assaulting the human spirit—remember: evil thrives in division, but good endures through unity and faith. Honoring 9/11's lost and Charlie Kirk‘s courage and faith, let's recommit to our ideals: peaceful disagreement, compassion for countrymen, and aspiration to a better tomorrow.

Reach across divides. Our future depends on it.