Remembering 9/11: Firefighters Will Take On Gym Stair Climbers

Twenty years ago this Saturday, the world will be reflecting on the tragedy that happened on September 11th, 2001.

I remember exactly where I was. I've heard people older than me say they can still remember exactly what they were doing when John F. Kennedy died, where they were when they were little kids and watched the USA take the first steps on the moon, and even what they were doing during of OJ Simpson police chase.

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9/11/2001 was the first national tragedy I've ever had the memory of living through. I was in grade school sitting in the classroom when my teacher, Mrs. Schilling, turned on the, what would now be considered super boxy, television mounted to the wall and turned on the news. I'm not sure whether or not someone came in and told her what was happening or whether she saw it online, but based on her face (and the fact that I was a particularly intuitive child), it wasn't difficult to make out that something was very, very wrong.

The events of that day will forever sting the country's citizens. Never will there be a September 11th that goes by on which the USA isn't pained by what transpired on that bright and sunny morning back in 2001. This year, the country will honor the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Everyone will pay homage to the fallen first responders in their own way, but if you happen to go to the gym and see a firefighter in full gear on a stair climber, you may just shed a tear when you find out why.

It's no secret that more firefighters were lost in New York City that fateful day than any other branch of emergency personnel. If you witness a firefighter on a stair climber on 9/11, know that they are paying tribute to their fallen brothers and sisters who didn't make it out of the Twin Towers that day.

A photo went viral back in 2018 of a firefighter doing just that. A woman witnessed him in full gear on the stair climber at her gym and initially assumed that he was probably training for a test. Once he was done, however, he expressed that he climbed 110 floors just like the firefighters did in the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001. Take a look at that picture HERE.

So, if you happen to see a firefighter climbing 110 floors on the stair climber this weekend, thank them for their service and let them be. They're mourning the fallen.

Sources: Facebook, Youtube

NEVER FORGET: Images from 9/11 and the days after

See 20 Ways America Has Changed Since 9/11

For those of us who lived through 9/11, the day’s events will forever be emblazoned on our consciousnesses, a terrible tragedy we can’t, and won’t, forget. Now, two decades on, Stacker reflects back on the events of 9/11 and many of the ways the world has changed since then. Using information from news reports, government sources, and research centers, this is a list of 20 aspects of American life that were forever altered by the events of that day. From language to air travel to our handling of immigration and foreign policy, read on to see just how much life in the United States was affected by 9/11.

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