It's fading a little bit. The memories of those of us who were not in New York or D.C. have to be jogged a bit to remember just how hard the hit was 21 years ago, how incredulous it was, how little information there was. I was in a software class at work. Someone ran out and bought a little TV, and we called our loved ones and talked urgently as we watched.
It was an incredibly complex event, unprecedented in countless ways. In such an event, there will be extraordinary coincidences, like finding a hijacker's passport, and enduring mysteries. Who is the Falling Man? It's probably sound engineer Johnathan Briley, but we will likely never remove all doubt.
What is NOT a mystery is how the buildings in New York fell. The most extensive investigation of a building collapse ever, with years of modeling, simulations, analysis, and camera and eyewitness data, has left no doubt. A slew of expert regulations for future buildings have been established (not something you would do if you had any questions about the instigating event.) See the animation (video is here.) Read the reports by the most distinguished engineering bodies in the world. Hear the deniers cite the same tired, explained points over and over and over: I'll grant that some are very sincere, but the massive weight of evidence is where it's always been (sometimes, governments actually tell the truth.) I'm not going to go (or argue) point by point, because the main points are as well established as gravity. Professor Bob Blaskiewicz pointed out that, in 20 years, doubters and deniers have not convinced the 3-5 editors needed on ANY mainstream journal to publish anything, as opposed to those doing their analysis with far more expertise and far better tools.
Farewell, my countrymen. It may be hard to remember details, but it is impossible to forget feelings.
