| As the 20th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, and with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan dominating recent news, it is easy to focus on the headlines from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks: four passenger flights hijacked; planes crashed into the twin towers, the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pa.; thousands of people killed. The enormity of the destruction is indelible. Less clear, though no less haunting, is what loved ones of the victims experienced when their relatives didn't come home. "Losing someone on 9/11 was like watching them disappear," writes Kimberly Rex. "They were there, and then they weren't." Rex, a writer in New York, was 19 when her father was killed at the World Trade Center. On Sept. 10, 2001, she watched him spoon grated cheese onto his soup at dinner. "The next day, the plane hit," she writes. "Fire raged and smoke billowed. Then the floor where he stood, the walls, the ceilings and the windows crumbled away into dust." Immediately after the attacks, people covered storefronts, bus stops and other surfaces with posters about those who had vanished. Families lit candles and held prayer vigils. Gradually, most realized that their loved ones would never return. But knowing that didn't change the feeling that they were missing – or lessen grief over their absence. "Sometimes I hear myself sound like other people whose dads have passed away. But then I hurt again, because my father didn't just die. He vanished," she writes. "And it's not the same when death is unseen and uncertain; when loved ones are robbed of the chance to prepare and accept; when his sneakers still sit in the front closet where he'd slipped them off and the smell of his aftershave still lingers in the bathroom."  (Brian Stauffer for The Washington Post) Sometimes, I hear myself sound like other people whose dads have passed away. But my father vanished. By Kimberly Rex ● Read more » | | | | By keeping — belatedly and under duress — a campaign promise, President Biden cauterized one wound from his miserable late summer. By George F. Will ● Read more » | | | | Just when the president could be declared politically dead, the conservative majority rushes in to revive him. By Kathleen Parker ● Read more » | | | Texas has loosened its gun laws once again. Seemed like a good time for me to check out Ladies Night at the gun range. By Karen Attiah ● Read more » | | | | The West Virginia senator's declaration is an early warning sign of political trouble for the Democrats if they ignore his plea. By Henry Olsen ● Read more » | | | | Those behind the law probably wouldn't wish to see the same tactics deployed against them on an issue in which the shoe is on the other foot. By David Von Drehle ● Read more » | | | Refugees from Afghanistan are coming our way. Let's welcome them. By Hugh Hewitt ● Read more » | | | | This is an uncomfortable conversation. The irresponsibly unvaccinated have made it a necessary one. By Ruth Marcus ● Read more » | | | I'm a tortoise in a world of hares. By Kristin van Ogtrop ● Read more » | | | | When you have it, you use it - no matter what. By Paul Waldman ● Read more » | | | | The podcaster will take "The Gist" to a new platform independent of Slate. By Erik Wemple ● Read more » | | | |
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