Nous Sommes Tous Américains

No one who was old enough to be aware of what was happening will forget that moment. We will always remember where we were, what we were doing when the deadliest terrorist attack in our country’s history struck America. I remember watching on television in real time when the second plane exploded into the south tower of the World Trade Center. The moments afterward were almost surreal, trying to piece together a sensible thought about what I had just witnessed. My mind could not conjure up a logical explanation of what, and why, and how this all could be happening. And as the day wore on, and bits and pieces of information dribbled out, the picture became much clearer.

These attacks were acts of terror, meant to strike the fear of God into every American, in an attempt to divide America, in order to destroy America. Bin Laden chose the World Trade Centers because he believed that America was so driven by greed that if he knocked down the center of our financial system, America would eventually implode into itself. But ironically, these attacks produced the opposite of the desired effect.  As sad, and tragic as September 11, 2001 was, on September 12, 2001, we had become the country we had always strived to be, that we were always meant to be, that we had glimpsed from time to time throughout our history. We were unified. One nation, under God. We put away our petty differences, we ignored the things used to divide us, and focused on what unites us; our common humanity, our love of country, our founding principles, our freedom, our rights, our fellow citizens. We became stronger as a nation, friendlier, more caring, more compassionate, more empathetic, more unified.