Still fresh 17 years later are the thoughts, emotions, and memories of what transpired on Sept. 11. Most of us have our own personal moment of where we were and what we were doing at the time our nation was unprovokely attacked.

For me, I was sitting in my cubicle at my desk at the Picayune Item working on the sports pages that were going in that day’s paper. At the time, the Picayune Item was an afternoon paper and my deadline was 10 a.m.

It was just a normal Tuesday when someone came in and said they heard on their car radio that a building had collapsed in New York City. My desk had the only TV in the newsroom and I quickly turned it on. Soon, my cubicle became very crowded as people watched on TV smoke rise from a building in New York City. It was around 9 a.m. and Matt Lauer was on the Today Show saying a jetliner had crashed into one of the Twin Towers.

We were amazed as just a few minutes later we watched live on TV a jetliner smashed into the South Tower. And we knew then this was no accident. Soon afterwards there came a report of a plane crashing into the Pentagon.

We all turned from shock and disbelief to news people and realized we had a major story going on that needs to be put in that day’s edition.

By the way, we were one of the few newspapers that actually had the story of 9/11 on 9/11.

That morning was one of my most memorable as a journalist and I’m proud to have worked with a group of people that today I call my friends. It’s a moment in history that binds my former colleagues and I in an unbreakable bond.

And now, nearly two decades later, there is a generation of Americans — many seniors in high school — who do not recall or lived through those events and the days that followed.

All they know about 9/11 is what has been written in the history books, an honored day of remembrance that is now called “Patriot Day.” Thankfully, the sacrifices that took place that day and the days that followed are still recalled within our schools and in our community.

A day of service events are held and we recognize our own first responders here at home. Kudos to the local Salvation Army for feeding our true heroes breakfast Tuesday.

Most of the rest of that day 17 years ago was a blur, but I remember lying in bed that night thinking how the world was going to be different the next day.

Rob Sigler is editor of The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at Rob.Sigler@VicksburgPost.com.