Twenty-one years since the towers fell. “Never forget” has aged poorly. Wars fought, rights bartered away, surveillance normalized. The flag-waving unity rotted into suspicion and division.
At memorials, the names are still read. But the public no longer listens. The cadence of the dead competes with football kickoffs, sales events, and another round of political outrage. The lives lost remain sacred; the lessons learned are disposable.
America’s real memory is amnesia.