The realities of the 9/11 attacks are still hard for many to grasp. That our own airliners would be used as delivery systems for weapons of mass destruction against our national symbols continues to stretch the imagination.

Remembering the innocents who were murdered and injured, and the heroic actions of the selfless first responders in both DC and NYC- hundreds of whom also lost their lives- is our responsibility not just today, but every day.

For their memory, and for posterity, we should also remember that the attackers chose commercial aviation as the arena precisely because the poor security system ensured them a high-degree of success.

Had many within our own government heeded the very clear warnings that were emerging years before September 11, 2001, about Al-Qaeda's desire to hijack aircraft and fly them into the ground, it may have been a very different day.

Instead, in the face of calls to improve aviation security from so many corners before 9/11, our civil servants and elected leaders chose to do nothing.

9/11 was a failure not of imagination - as the national commission investigating the attacks wrongly concluded. In fact, it was a governmental failure of massive proportions.

If we are to truly honor those who lost their lives on that day, we as a nation need to learn the entire history of the events on 9/11 and teach it to our children; even as difficult as that might be.