The author argues that the solidarity and human resilience displayed on September 11 should be preserved separately from the political choices and wars that followed. ^[1] The author, a professor of politics and public affairs, notes that while the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks arrives, the immediate shock and fear felt by those alive in 2001 are fading for younger generations who encounter the event only through media and stories. ^[2] The essay argues that the September 11, 2001 attacks changed everything in many ways, but that society is still only beginning to understand what they really meant. ^[3] A 2016 Pew Research Center survey found that 76% of Americans named the September 11 attacks as one of the 10 most consequential events of their lifetimes. ^[4] Scholars of collective memory argue that forgetting is a necessary part of social life because history accumulates faster than collective memory can accommodate it. ^[5] The 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States falls on the upcoming Friday, as stated in a Danish essay. ^[6] The essay identifies al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden as the entities that carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States. ^[7] The author recounts arriving at his daughter's kindergarten on the morning of the attacks, when the institution's leader asked if he had heard about the accident in New York. ^[8]