9/11

Seven years have passed since Americans watched in horror as terrorist-manned passenger jets slammed into the twin towers of New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

The memories are still jarring, even though enough time has passed that there are children returning to elementary schools this year who have no personal recollection of that day, the day we now call 9/11. In deference to the nearly 3,000 lives lost that day, many refer to the date as September 11, spelling out the month in order to avoid the everyday ordinariness of the customary abbreviation.

Most of the world has been affected, in one way or another, by the events of that September day. Terrorists are being pursued, successfully in many cases, by a broad coalition of nations. Just this week three suspects were convicted in Britain for plotting to blow up passenger airliners on their way from Europe to the U.S. These are the terrorists who intended to mask their explosives in familiar clear plastic bottles -- leading to the current three-ounce limit on liquids that can be carried aboard flights.

One of the inconveniences of the aftermath of 9/11 are the more stringent security searches at airports everywhere. But many officials observe that tighter security, more intense scrutiny and better intelligence have prevented a repeat of terrorism on the scale of the World Trade Center/Pentagon attacks.