Remember September 12: Twenty-Five Years After 9/11

Twenty-five years after September 11, 2001, Sarah Beth Terry remembers the nearly 3,000 lives lost, the first responders still dying from related illnesses, the passengers and crew of Flight 93, and the families who continue carrying that morning with them.She also remembers September 12—the flags on every porch, the crowded churches and blood banks, and the brief moment when frightened Americans reached for one another instead of retreating into political camps.Sarah Beth honors Welles Crowther, the 24-year-old “Man in the Red Bandana” who repeatedly returned to the South Tower to lead others to safety, and reflects on political violence one year after Charlie Kirk’s assassination.The Porch Paper also covers the conflict involving Iran, oil prices, West Virginia broadband, Kentucky manufacturing, Emily Ann Roberts’ first CMA nomination, Garth Brooks’ latest alias, and a massive Guinness heist. But today’s central message is simple: never forget what happened—and never forget who we discovered we could be.