“If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate.”
—Sandy Dahl, wife of Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl, in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in 2002

This year marks the 21st anniversary of the September 11 attacks on our country.  That beautiful September day when everything changed. Babies born to 9/11 widows are now adults. Indeed, some of the very First Responders we’ve come to respect during the recent challenges were not even born when their predecessors entered the towers
By now, the images of the day are seared into our collective memories: the firefighters and first responders carrying Chaplain Mychal Judge out of the rubble, workers covered in dust looking bewildered, and perhaps the most iconic one of firefighters raising the American flag over the rubble of the twin towers. 

The sacrifices made by those who lost their lives on that day will not be forgotten.  Americans persevere, mourn, pull themselves up and get on with the work ahead of us.  In our democracy, calls for vengeance and revenge are understood but ultimately met with our sense of justice and fairness and compel us as a people to get beyond it. 

Those of us alive on September 11, 2001 remember more than the horrible images on television, or the funerals of firefighters that took place in our own neighborhoods. We remember the rescue efforts and the care and compassion shown to the families of 9/11 victims.

While 9/11 united us as a nation, time has not healed all wounds. Our nation and the world are a far more divided place than we were in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. We have seen first-hand signs of hatred in our midst. We have become so accustomed to mass shootings, murders of journalists abroad and violations of civil rights that such evils only grab the spotlight for a few hours before they are forgotten. Even the terrible war in Ukraine has become old news.

We must never forget 9/11. Not only must we remember those lost that day, or in the aftermath, but we must remember how we came together in the days, weeks and years after that terrible day.