United We Stood

Ten years ago the whole world changed.

I remember this day ten years ago as if it happened this morning, and I have a feeling I always will. Woke up, got dressed, headed to the kitchen, getting ready to leave for school. Senior year had just started. I got to the kitchen and my dad was standing there, staring at the television. I had no idea up that point what was going on. The first tower was down and the news cameras were filming chaos. No one knew what was going on. Then I saw it. The second plane hit. The image is disturbing, upsetting, vivid. Like a movie that won't stop playing.

The thing is, we all saw it. We, as a nation, watched a tragedy unfold in real time. We collectively gasped when the towers fell. All 300,000,000 of us were suddenly connected on the most raw and basic level. We were all the same--whether we were in Manhattan or L.A. or Corn Cob, Iowa--we were all the same. Vulnerable, angry, shaken to our core.

For many of us, especially my generation, this was the first truly historical and significant event that we can remember. Sure, there were others, but we were so young. I remember the LA Riots, but I don't remember being truly affected by them. 9/11 affected everyone.

9/11 resonates everyday, and has done so for the last ten years. It changed the way we live our lives. We learned that we aren't immune from tragedy. We learned that we are stronger than we may think. We learned that if we band together, we can do great things, even just regular people (I'm talking to you, Flight 93. Let's Roll, indeed).

There was a surge of patriotism immediately following 9/11 which has since waned considerably. Our momentary bipartisan comfort group was all too quickly replaced by politics and finger pointing. The blame game couldn't wait any longer and someone needed to be thrown under the bus.

We live in a country now that is very divided, full of "vs": Democrats vs. Republicans, Religion vs. Religion, Minorities vs. Majorities. Every issue is polarizing, each side just as passionate as the other but most often not willing to accept that sometimes people have different opinions.

But there was that brief moment in time, right after our nation was devastated where we weren't divided. We were too busy being human and recognizing our common ground to care who was a Democrat and who was a Republican. We were all just people. We were, if only for a moment, made friends out of strangers. Its the only time in my life so far that I can think of where we truly embodied our Pledge of Allegiance. We truly were "One Nation." And I miss that.

God Bless America.

"Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children. "
- President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001

"Now, we have inscribed a new memory alongside those others. It's a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning. But not only of loss and mourning. It's also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for a friend-even a friend whose name it never knew. "
- President George W. Bush, December 11, 2001