We will hear the line again and again in the coming days. I can't believe it has been 25 years.
But it has been a quarter of a century since the peace of a peach of a late summer day was shattered by a barbarous attack on New York City, the Pentagon, and in the blue sky over Pennsylvania.
This Friday, September 11, America and much of the world will remember September 11 2001, a day that will truly, and to borrow from FDR, live in infamy.
It has been 25 years, but that is no time at all to those who lost loved ones on that day of memories since seared into our collective mind, heart and soul.
As the years pass there is an increasing number of people who will not remember 9/11 as a living experience, they having been too young or being born after that day. But we are not too far down memory's road as yet. Twenty five years is a long time, and no time.
For those who were going about their lives on that late summer/early fall day, a day of brilliant blue sky and pleasant temperature, there is no forgetting. The memory is still sharp, the emotional response still heartfelt. Here we are talking in particular about those who were eyewitnesses. But the wider world also watched, in horror and disbelief.
Relatives of the dead feel a deeply personal pain. But the pain reaches beyond as this was an attack on all of us by people who seemingly would have desired the deaths of all of us.
How deeply, then, is the well of loss and grieving for those who lost loved ones on that September day? It is well nigh impossible to put into words.
Yes, It has been twenty five years. And it has been no time at all.
We remember all those we lost on September 11 2001, the innocent people just going about what they expected to be a normal day. And of course we remember those first responders who heroically gave their lives - in Manhattan 343 members of the FDNY, 37 Port Authority Police Officers and 23 members of the NYPD. We remember those who died at the Pentagon, and those heroes in the sky over Pennsylvania. 2,977 is the total of the innocent dead on the day itself.
But over the years, too, we have become aware of the lingering effects of 9/11 on the health of those who rushed to the smoking ruins of the World Trade Center towers. Many have succumbed to 9/11-related illness; many continue to suffer.
9/11, in this extended context, has been more than just one day.
But on one day this week we will turn our full attention back to September 11 2001, a day that began with acts of evil, but also bequeathed to us acts of duty, devotion and love.
We remember. We will never forget.
