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9/11 Web sites offer chance to look back, take stock

It’s been six years since the world changed.

Six years since a small band of extremists carried out the most devastating terrorist attack in history.

Six years since a single morning overturned our view of the world and our place in it.

It’s easy to forget — or at least to forget to remember — after six years. The world is a frenetic place and a lot can happen in 72 months. In the last six years we have seen the fall and subsequent resurgence of the Taliban, the end of Saddam Hussein’s regime and a new era of insurgency and civil strife in Iraq, and the advent of a new and virulent breed of global terrorists.

It feels like we’ve lived a lot more than 2,190 days in the last six years.

So you’d think it would be really easy to lose sight of that first morning, to relegate it to the history books alongside Pearl Harbor and the Alamo. But surf the Web and you’ll find that the memories are still fresh and we haven’t forgotten the heroism of that day.

Starting out close to home, the Pentagon is building a memorial to the 184 people killed in the attack on the Defense Department’s headquarters. The Pentagon Memorial Project offers progress reports, construction photos, artists’ renderings of the memorial design and a page where you can make donations.

New York City has established several memorials to the memory of those who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Both the New York City Police Department, which lost 23 officers on Sept. 11, and the New York City Fire Department, which lost 343 fire fighters and paramedics, created tributes to their fallen comrades.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is being constructed at the World Trade Center site and is devoted to preserving the memories of 9/11 and its victims. Their Web site includes updates on the construction of the memorial, multimedia galleries and interactive timelines and ways that you can get involved with the organization.

In Pennsylvania, the heroism of the passengers and crew of Flight 93, who averted a planned attack on Washington D.C., is being commemorated with the Flight 93 National Memorial. Visit their site to learn more about what happened on that flight, the process of building the memorial or to make a donation.

News outlets have also periodically taken a look back. September 11, 2001: Legacy of Terror, for example, is a multimedia package that was published on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. It includes related coverage from Gannett Co. newspapers around the country, multimedia and interactive graphics.

Worries that the memories of Sept. 11 might have dimmed with time are largely unfounded. The Web allows us to gather together in new ways and to build a collective memory of events that have touched us all. So if you don’t have time this year to attend a formal remembrance, take a little time out to take a look back online.

After all that’s happened in the last six years, taking a moment to take stock might be a good way to prepare for the next six.