GVSU remembers 9/11 on 25th anniversary

Part of the reason the tribute resonates, of course, is the varied experiences with 9/11 that everyone on campus has.

President Philomena V. Mantella has talked previously about how she had worked on the 55th floor of the World Trade Center before leaving a job just months before the attack. She emphasized the need to "remember to mark that day in history and to learn from its many impacts."

The different lived experiences of such a seismic event is noteworthy when it still is fresh for so many generations, said Matthew Daley, professor of history and a public historian.

Those with personal recollections have a "possessive investment in it of preserving their shock, their experience, their sacrifice in the terms of veterans. And those can be extremely powerful and really, can be cathartic, for those, in the sense of preserving, who say we need to remember the past," Daley said.

Memories and commemorations are part of observing 9/11, he said, but there also is a contemporary feel. "It's still kind of an active part of our shared cultural memory, but how is it shared? How is that transmitted?"

The social cues are also still relatively fresh, he said, unlike looking back at a time like World War II.

"The internet was here, but it wasn't what it is. Cell phones were here, but they weren't what they are now," Daley said. "You still have that sort of cultural familiarity."