It was a wake-up call in every sense of the word when my mother called me early on Sept. 11, 2001, to tell me a plane had crashed into one of New York City’s twin towers. I quickly turned on television and was watching live when the airliner flew into the second tower.

While my husband, Ray, and I grieved at the loss of life and wondered how humans of any religious or political persuasion could dream of killing so many innocent people, we came face-to-face with the ramifications of the terrorists’ acts when we flew to Hawaii four months later. The airports were patrolled by armed troops and security was tight.

At Pearl Harbor, we were denied entry unless we’d throw away camera bags and fanny packs and cram our possessions into our pockets. We declined to do either and came back the next day with money in hand and no external baggage to concern the guard. It brought home to us – in a way that living in Lawrence did not – that terrorism is a threat taken very seriously by our government.

When I think back on 9/11, the idea of watching so many people die at the minute of impact is still horrifying to me. The immediacy of television has changed our lives so much.

The lesson from 9/11 is that there are people who hate so much that they glory in dying while killing people they don’t even know. There is no justification – no reason – for such an act. To excuse such an attack, or to forget it, is done at our peril. And yet some will. We live in a time when excuses are made for murderers and child abusers in the effort to explain their aberrant behavior. Not by me, though. Nor will I ever excuse a terrorist act.