Honor victims by rebuilding national unity
For many Americans, it’s breathtaking to realize it has been a decade and a half since that moment. For those old enough, the events of Sept. 11, 2001, are so indelibly etched in our collective consciousness that it seems they occurred just yesterday. But, time marches on; today is the 15th anniversary of that horrible day.
Each generation seems to have had their moment. The kind that is so meaningful as to remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when it occurred.
From the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, to the slaying of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to Neil Armstrong’s moon walk. These moments are forever with us.
For any American older than 21, such a moment occurred 15 years ago when terrorists conducted a maniacal suicide mission to hijack four commercial airliners and crash them into iconic American landmarks.
Two of the planes brought down both towers of the World Trade Center in New York, a third wreaked havoc by crashing into the Pentagon, while the fourth, which apparently had targeted the U.S. Capitol, was thwarted by a heroic passenger revolt that caused it to crash into a field near Shanksville, Pa.
The events of Sept. 11, 2001, were extraordinary, different from anything our nation had encountered. We had been savagely attacked, and we didn’t even know by whom or why. At first, anyway.
That day’s events were clear acts of war not so much against our country, but against our way of life. The problem was that the attacks didn’t come from any recognized state, but rather were the brainchild of a shadowy group of Middle East fanatics calling themselves al-Qaida, who operated under a twisted and violent interpretation of Islam.
As a nation, we were at once stunned, sickened, afraid and heartbroken. But it didn’t take long for that shock and hurt to turn to resolve and, yes, anger. Lots of anger. We were so upset, in fact, that we declared war on a strategic concept — terror — rather than a country.
The advisability of doing so was questionable, as it led us into excruciating entanglements that remain today. But today is not about policy choices. It is about remembering the 2,977 innocents and heroic first-responders killed at the hands of 19 terrorists. In the 15 years hence, our nation has accomplished much.
The events of 9/11 proved a couple of things. They proved that America was not immune to terror. For years we sat in relative security, assured that these kinds of events were something that happened elsewhere, not here in the cradle of liberty.
The looks on all of our faces, as well as our co-workers, neighbors and friends as we stared incredulously at TV screen as we watched those plumes of smoke rise from the World Trade Center told us different.
The attacks, as horrible as they were, also did something else. They united the nation as never before. We rallied behind the flag, behind our first responders, behind the notion of one nation.
That’s why, 15 years later, the polarization of today’s politics is so desperately disappointing.
A Gallup poll this week noted Americans’ national pride hit its lowest point ever.
We are divided by serious issues such as race, immigration, guns, national security.
The unity that galvanized the nation in the rubble of the worst attack ever on American soil seems a lot longer ago than 15 scant years.
Maybe when we say “Never Forget,” we should include the memory not only of what we lost that day, but also what we gained, at least for awhile. We stood as one. We have rebuilt on the site of the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon has been repaired and our military has killed Osama bin Laden, the plan’s mastermind. But we haven’t forgotten. Not at all. So the nation stops again — as it should always — to remember and grieve for those 2,977 people and their families. May they rest in peace. Perhaps now we can get on with the idea of rebuilding our national unity.