Twenty-Five Years: A Personal 9/11 Reflection

Twenty-five years ago today, I was in eighth grade. I remember vividly the face of my math teacher as she walked into our homeroom to tell us what had happened. She was visibly shaken as my homeroom teacher turned on the TV, and we watched the second building get struck in real time.

At the time, we knew it was bad. What we didn't understand yet was the profound impact that morning would have on the rest of our lives, and that the world we were born into was gone forever.

The impact on my family was real too. My father served on the antiterrorism unit of the admiral's staff for the George Washington carrier fleet, and he was consumed by the months that followed. My clearest memory of him from that period is him walking into my bedroom at night to kiss me goodbye while I was already asleep.

I didn't understand it then, the way a kid doesn't understand a parent's absence when the absence is the point. He was doing what his country needed, quietly, without fanfare, and he never once made it sound like a sacrifice. That is what duty looked like to me before I had a word for it.

This morning I stood with our first responders and this community at the Easton 9/11 Memorial Ceremony to remember the lives we lost.

Twenty-five years later, I'm the father now. My daughter is three and my son is one. They will grow up in a world shaped by that day, in a town I love. That is why I serve: because the best way to honor what we lost is to take care of what we still have.

Never forget.

Frank Gunsallus is a candidate for Talbot County Council and the former President of the Easton Town Council.

Authorized by: Friends of Frank Gunsallus, Paul Hagood, Treasurer