Ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, major U.S. media focused on the traces the tragedy left behind.
On the 7th (local time), Reuters profiled Scott Larson, 29, who lost his father, a firefighter, in the Sept. 11 attacks. Larson, who was 4 at the time, now works as a firefighter at the Woodside firehouse where his father served.
Larson said, "I think of my father every day. There is not a single day I come here without thinking of my father," expressing his longing.
Larson is not the only bereaved family member who followed a parent into firefighting. According to the International Association of Fire Fighters, 58 children of firefighters who died in the Sept. 11 attacks chose the path of firefighting. Reuters said that although 25 years have passed since the attacks, for the bereaved, it remains a pain that runs through their lives.
The NYT focused on how younger generations perceive Sept. 11. In the United States today, more than 100 million people age 26 or younger were not yet born then or were too young to remember the tragedy. They encounter Sept. 11 not through direct memory but through textbooks, parents' stories and online memes.
Young people cited the COVID-19 pandemic and major mass shootings as turning points that had a greater impact on their lives. The NYT said they empathize with the pain of older generations who experienced Sept. 11, but, lacking direct memories, they also feel a certain distance.
Julie Fray, 26, whose father was a New York police officer during Sept. 11, said her father would travel every September to avoid the memories of that day. Fray wondered about her father's feelings, but said he rarely brought up the tragedy.
The WSJ focused on changes in Lower Manhattan, where the World Trade Center (WTC) once stood. After sinking into a slump immediately after the tragedy, Lower Manhattan regained vitality over the past 25 years as its resident population roughly tripled.
As aging office buildings were converted into apartments and other housing, the financial district—once centered on workplaces—became a space where jobs and homes coexist. The industrial mix also diversified.
In the past, finance and real estate accounted for two-thirds of jobs in Lower Manhattan, but recently media, technology and advertising corporations, including Spotify and Condé Nast, have moved in large numbers.
The WSJ said that Lower Manhattan, still bearing scars from the attacks 25 years ago, has reestablished itself as a downtown where people live, work and go about their lives.