20 years ago - what have we learned?

Today is the 20th year since the tragic 9/11/2001 attack on the American people. I was on the Kennedy Expressway that morning, headed to my office in Chicago, when the first reports came in on the radio. When I got to my office I turned on the computer and followed events the rest of the day. One of my Board members worked for Aon Corporation and around mid-day I emailed and asked if he knew anyone there. He replied, "We have an entire office there. I have many friends."

Twitter has been full of memorials and I posted a few Tweets pointing to articles I've written on this blog since 2005.

Here's what I wrote on #September11th, 2008. I concluded, "this is a daily reminder of the work that I need to do to try to create a better future for my own children and future grandchildren." https://t.co/K8EUq3UKfT pic.twitter.com/o2mvVcPo2S

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) September 11, 2021

and this

In September 2011 I wrote an article titled "ten years ago..." Today I could repeat that saying "20 years ago". The message would be the same. However, many of the links would no longer function. https://t.co/t4z6vHmDWm #September11th pic.twitter.com/SCbFsFApr3

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) September 11, 2021

earlier in the week I posted this

I continued to lead a #Chicago youth program & #Tutor #Mentor Connection after #September11th but lower resources made it much more difficult. This timeline show highlights till now. https://t.co/ixrPfxAGUL pic.twitter.com/2GzNbsYlO4

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) September 10, 2021

The timeline shows work I had been doing prior to Sept 11, 2001 and work I've continued to do since then.  one post I saw was by Nicholas Kristof, a writer for the New York Times.

I was on the Kennedy Expressway headed to my office in #Chicago when the first #Sept11 reports came over the radio. I spent the day doing work to help kids in poverty while listening to the bad news and fearing for friends. I'm still trying to help kids, 20 years later. https://t.co/MZn65d2M8G pic.twitter.com/oTpFJypwS8

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) September 11, 2021

Kristoff wrote, "If only we had tackled America's child poverty as seriously as we confronted Al Qaeda. If only we had fought addiction the way we fought Saddam. If only we had bolstered American education the way we bolstered our military."

That's what I've tried to influence for 25 years, before, and after, 9/11.  Now that we're out of Afghanistan, and not spending all that money on that war, can we spend the money to do the things Kristof argued for?