24 Years Later: Five Stories from September 11th

For 28 percent of Americans, 9/11 has always been the past

Clockwise L to R: Enemencio Dario Hidalgo Cedeño with his daughters, Michael Andrew Bane with wife Tara, Lynette D. Vosges, Cira Marie Patti and Igor Zukelman with friends; Photo Credit: online obituaries and 9/11 Museum Facebook page

It’s been 24 years. My kids only know about 9/11 as something that happened in the past. To put this in perspective, about 28% of the current U.S. population (estimated at around 335 million) was born after September 11, 2001. So more than 1 in 4 Americans have lived their entire lives in the post-9/11 era.

That’s wild to me because even with all the past and present horror in the news, it is still the most defining historical moment for me, and I was far away in Texas when the planes hit the towers. I want to always remember and mark this day, so each year I choose five names at random and learn about what made these people irreplaceable to those who loved them. It’s more challenging now because many online obituaries are no longer fully available, but other digital sources still provide useful material.

Igor Zukelman Obituary from Legacy.com

Igor Zukelman

Igor Zukelman’s online obituary from the New York Times still exists. He was born in Ukraine and came to New York in 1992 at age 29. The goal was to become a citizen. He achieved it the same year he…