On this night 20 years ago, 246 people went to sleep in preparation for their morning flights. 2606 people went to sleep in preparation for work in the morning. 343 firefighters went to sleep in preparation for their morning shift. 60 police officers went to sleep in preparation for their morning shift of saving lives. None of them saw past 10:00 Sept 11, 2001. I was in my American Government class. All our eyes fixated on every Television that morning at Twin Falls High School. I looked around the classroom, noticed the paralyzing disbelief of my American friends and the relieved, traumatic memories of my refugee friends. Experiencing PTSD flashbacks of atrocities my own refugee family survived I did not know how to process the day. I was in yearbook club and took pictures of people crying, hugging, coping, grieving together that night at Twin Falls City Park vigil. I miss America the day after 9/11, there was no division, not by color, not by politics, not by religion, not by immigration status. I remember the way it felt. Do you remember? 9/11 affected all of us, born, naturalized, immigrated, documented, undocumented it was an attack all Americans. Americans from all walks of life united in a historic way to reopen and rebuild. We rolled up our sleeves to honor the fallen by supporting, defending and bringing back life without fear back to America. We were united by our pain, compassion and strength. With 641,000 American Covid-19 deaths, we still see a Nation divided, some hesitating to roll up their sleeves, get vaccinated and support frontline workers saving lives. We said “we will never forget,” but somehow it shows that we did indeed forget. That’s a tragedy unto itself. God Bless all who sacrifice and serve. #September11 #NeverForget #FrontlineWorkers #VoteBabayan #TwinFallsCityCouncil