On the cold, rainy day of Sept. 11, 2015, 2,977 flags were propped into the ground of Dunn Meadow, each standing uniformly in rows.
Each flag represented one of the lives lost on what Americans refer to as a tragic day in history.
Friday marked the 14th anniversary of the terrorist attacks where 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C. and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
“It reminds people to take a step back and remember what happened that day,” Matt Shute, facilitator of the vigil, said. “Also to not take our freedom for granted because lives were lost that day because of our freedom.”
The IU chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, collaborating with Tau Kappa Epsilon, put the memorial together. This is the second year the two organizations have created this memorial.
Shute is currently the chairman of Young Americans for Freedom at IU and the president of Tau Kappa Epsilon. He said the memorial was one of the ways he celebrated freedom.
Recalling his own personal memories of the day, Shute remembered his mother waking him up after the second plane had hit the World Trade Center. Shute was home schooled at the time, which he said gave him the opportunity to watch everything from that point on, from beginning to finish, via the news.
“Not a whole lot of people my age were able to do that, so it’s a double-edged sword that happened,” Shute said.
Shute said the negative side of this experience was remembering the events very clearly. He recalled in middle school, through high school and even in college, these memories haunting him every anniversary of 9/11.
Shute said the positive side is that it motivated him to do things like coordinate the memorial and seek leadership in the country, not necessarily in official positions, but in just fighting to remind people of what happened and remind people about their freedoms.
“Thankfully, because of this memorial, I can turn that emotion and despair into something positive,” Shute said. “It distracts me away from the despair, and instead replaces that with positive actions that can actually do something constructive.”
The memorial was broken down into two parts.
Shute said tangibly it was a display of 2,977 flags, one for each victim of 9/11. It was there for the campus to see, for both students and Bloomington residents alike.
Intangibly, however, Shute said the vigil was there to simply remind people of the horrors of 9/11 and that evil does exist in this world, making it imperative that we acknowledge its presence.
“Students coming in now are getting younger and younger every year, relative to 9/11,” Shute said. “They are simply remembering less and less of it because they were younger when 9/11 happened.”
Freedom is something we as Americans don’t realize is precious and this is one of the ways those can be reminded, Shute said.
Other contributors saw the memorial as a place to reflect.
“Even if people are just walking by, it gives them that short second to at least reflect on the event that happened,” Hanna Bedricky, junior at IU, said.
Nicholas Martin, sophomore at IU and another contributor to the memorial, said the display reminds people of how important this event was in history.
“I didn’t really understand how serious it was at the time, like how many people had been hurt and how big of a deal in was,” Martin said. “Not until I saw the planes crashing on television did it really sink in.”
The memorial was set up around 6 a.m. Friday morning and lasted until about 8 p.m., immediately following a small candle lighting in honor of the lives lost.
“We’re here today to remember an unthinkable incident, something no one saw happening before it happened,” Shute said. “If you believe that everything happens for a reason then maybe the reason was for America to look inward and strengthen.”
The candles were lit just as the sun was setting around the participants.
“When we take our freedom for granted, the terrorists will win,” Shute said.
