Full Breakdown
The Ongoing Ritual and Remembrance of September 11
9/7/2026, 12:30:38 AM
Annual Bell-Tolling at Ground Zero
Each September 11, crowds gather near Ground Zero for a solemn ceremony that includes the tolling of a bell and the reading of the names of the nearly three thousand victims. Since 2001 the bell has tolled six times at the moments of the attacks—8:46 a.m. (North Tower), 9:03 a.m. (South Tower), 9:37 a.m. (Pentagon), 9:59 a.m. (South Tower collapse), 10:03 a.m. (Flight 93), and 10:28 a.m. (North Tower collapse). This year a seventh toll will honor the thousands who have since died from suicide, cancer, or other illnesses linked to the attacks’ aftermath.
Family Advocacy and the 9/11 Commission
Kristen Breitweiser, a widowed survivor, has become a leading voice for families seeking a fuller accounting of the tragedy. Their pressure helped produce the 9/11 Commission Report, released in 2004, which detailed the events but did not assign responsibility to any U.S. government agency for the intelligence failures that allowed the hijackings.
The 9/11 Memorial & Museum
The 9/11 Memorial & Museum opened in 2014, a $350 million, 110,000-square-foot facility that displays artifacts ranging from a damaged ambulance to handwritten pleas for help. Visitor Steve Kandell, whose 28-year-old sister Shari was among more than a thousand people whose remains were never identified, described the experience as confronting the “dusty, ownerless topsiders” preserved behind glass. For many families, however, the museum has offered limited solace.
Continuing Grief and Reflection
Commentators and columnists note that the ritual of bell-tolling and the museum’s exhibits underscore a lingering collective trauma. The ceremony’s expansion to include deaths from related illnesses signals an acknowledgment that the tragedy’s health impacts extend far beyond the immediate loss of life on September 11, 2001.
