This weekend will mark the 15th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack on United States soil.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed and more than 6,000 were injured when terrorists hijacked commercial airplanes and flew two of them into the World Trade Center, another into the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to overtake the terrorists.

There is now a generation of teenagers who were either too young to remember or not even born when the deadly early morning attacks occurred. They have grown up in a society where security measures at airports and major sporting or concert events were unheard of prior to 9/11, but are now considered the norm.

As a result, it seems the reason why we honor the victims of 9/11 is fading from America’s conscience.

In the days, weeks, months and years after the attack, pride in being an American and waving the red, white and blue ran rampant in the United States. But in recent years, it seems that pride and the memory of 9/11 have begun to fade.

Sept. 11, 2001, changed America and the way we live. We should never forget why or the people who were lost.