Twice Touched by Terror: Why I Never Take Our Freedom for Granted

By Dawn LaGuerre

September 11, 2001, did not mark my family’s first encounter with terrorism at the World Trade Center attacks.

Eight years earlier, on February 26, 1993, terrorists detonated a bomb in the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center. The explosion killed six people, injured more than 1,000 and sent smoke pouring through the towers as thousands tried to escape during the World Trade Center attacks.

At the time, my husband, David LaGuerre, an Air Force veteran, worked near the World Trade Center.

That day, he happened to be off from work.

I have often thought about that simple twist of fate. We were thankful he was safe, but none of us could have known that the World Trade Center would again become the target of terrorists—or that the next attack would change our lives and our country forever.

On September 11, 2001, I was working approximately four blocks from the World Trade Center as a New York City community affairs staffer.

What began as an ordinary Tuesday became a day I can still see, hear and feel 25 years later.

The confusion was overwhelming. Communications became difficult. Transportation was disrupted. Families desperately tried to locate one another. My uncle was at the World Trade Center, and my husband and I were trying to make sure our son got home safely.

Then there were the people.

I can still see strangers helping strangers.

People helped frightened children. They guided others through the streets. They shared information, offered comfort and stopped to help people they did not know.

And while thousands were trying to get away from danger, firefighters, police officers and other first responders were moving toward it.

That image has stayed with me.

Perhaps that is why I do not take freedom lightly.

My husband served this country in the Air Force. I have seen public servants and first responders answer the call when people needed them most. September 11 gave me an even deeper appreciation for the men and women who protect our communities and our country, sometimes at tremendous personal risk.

Freedom is easy to take for granted when we have known it throughout our lives. We wake up, go to work, send our children to school, worship as we choose, express our opinions and live our daily lives without stopping to think about the people who have sacrificed to make those freedoms possible.

September 11 made that impossible for me.

But there is another part of that day I refuse to forget.

In the midst of unimaginable horror, I witnessed extraordinary humanity.

People did not stop to ask strangers about their politics, religion, race or economic status before helping them. They saw another human being who needed assistance, and they responded.

For a moment, America remembered how much we depended upon one another.

Twenty-five years later, our country is deeply divided. We argue about politics, race, immigration, religion and what America’s future should be. Those disagreements are part of living in a democracy. But we should never allow our differences to make us forget our shared humanity.

We should not need another September 11 to remember how to care about one another.

For a new generation, the attacks of September 11 are history. They see photographs, watch videos and read about that Tuesday in textbooks.

For those of us who were there, it is different.

It is memory.

I remember the fear and uncertainty. I remember trying to reach family. I remember the smoke and chaos. But just as clearly, I remember courage.

I remember strangers helping.

I remember first responders going toward danger.

I remember a country that, even while wounded, refused to surrender to fear.

As we observe the 25th anniversary of September 11, I hope we honor the nearly 3,000 people who were killed not only by remembering how that terrible day changed America, but also by remembering what Americans showed us about courage, sacrifice and compassion.

My family’s connection to the World Trade Center stretches from that bomb in a parking garage in 1993 to the unimaginable events I witnessed from Lower Manhattan eight years later.

Those experiences taught me something I will carry for the rest of my life:

Freedom is precious. Service matters. Courage matters. And the people willing to protect others—whether they wear a military uniform, a firefighter’s helmet, a police badge or no uniform at all—deserve our gratitude.

I will never take them, or our freedom, lightly.

Dawn LaGuerre is a retired educator and former New York City community affairs staffer who was working approximately four blocks from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. She lives in the Mohawk Valley and remains active in education, media and community affairs

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