In Rememberance of September 11, but What About September 12th?

It's hard to believe that it's been 8 years since the terrorist acts of Sept. 11. At times, it's hard to even think about this day without remembering the sheer terror many of us felt and the horrific lost of life. And while I'm saddened about the cruelty and hatred exhibited toward America on that day, I also remember the good things about that day. On that day the terrorist sought to break our spirits. However, they taught us about our resolve, our connectivity as Americans, that we were our brother's keeper and they unleashed the true American spirit.

On that day, and the ensuing days afterwards, we came together as a country. We showed solidarity; we felt citizenship, true patriotism, and love and compassion for our fellow man. As a country we behaved with such honor, dignity and grace, and we were determined to help those who were shattered, destroyed and devastated rebuild their lives. On that day, there was no black or white, no rich or poor, no them or us, and no red or blue America. We were only "We the People of the United States of America." We stood strong and proud and, more importantly, we stood together.

When you think about it, how could we not stand together? After all, we saw people jumping from windows trying to save themselves and/or choosing to die on their own terms. We saw firefighters by the hundreds die trying to save others, the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 bring their plane to the ground rather than allow the terrorist to strike another American target, and we witnessed more than 3000 Americans die needlessly. It is hard not to look into our souls and determine who we were: a united America incapable of being destroyed.

Honestly, it's hard to think about September 11 and not remember all those feelings of love, compassion and patriotism and the kindred spirit we felt that day. Even so, I wonder which country will we be tomorrow on Sept. 12th? Will we be the one that was united and that we remember every September 11 or will we be the one we've evolved into over the last year?

The truth is we've become a very badly divided country along racial, partisan and cultural lines. There has been so much vitriol and anger spewed throughout this country the last year that it's shameful. We have a group of birthers claiming our president isn't legitimate, we have seen unprecedented anger at town hall meetings relating to healthcare and now we have people in the chambers of Congress calling our president a liar. On top of that we've seen the racism racheted up and we've seen the re-explosion of the "them" vs. "us" mentality. I personally feel the anger and hatred in our country is at an all time high.

It's quite sad when you think about it. We've allowed issues like the economy, immigration, racism and politics to trump the true American spirit that we showed that day. On that day, it didn't matter whether illegal immigrants were going to get healthcare coverage. Anyone who needed hospitalization got it. On that day, it didn't matter about bailouts. Anyone who needed it got one whether in terms of free food, clothing, or shelter. Corporations and individuals stood together and we would have given anything to ensure that every corporation in the Twin Towers were rebuilt and successful. On that day, we didn't care whether our neighbors or our president was black or white. We stood together. Whites taking care of injured blacks and blacks taking care of injured whites. On that day, unlike the last few months, we didn't even care about who was our president and the role of government. Believe me, the half of the country who didn't believe George Bush was rightfully elected didn't care that day. He was our president, and we needed him to lead us and the government to reassure us and take care of us.

So too now many of our fellow countrymen are losing their homes, their jobs and their healthcare. They are enduring the worst of times and yet again it should be our goal as fellow Americans to see to it that we all succeed. That we all pull through and that we remember that working together, like we did on September 11, 2001, we can all make it through because that speaks to our American resolve and the American spirit.

Now, let's be clear. I'm not saying we should have big government, corporate bailouts, healthcare coverage for illegal immigrants or that race and politics don't matter. Rather, I'm saying on that day we looked into our hearts and souls and did what we thought was best for our country and our fellow man without looking through any of the prisms we normally use to analyze things. All that matter that day was whether you were in need. And because we did that, we were made a better nation, one truly of the people, by the people and for the people.

Now every September 11, not only do we remember all the people who died that day but we also remember the things required of us as a nation. My hope is that we will also remember that tomorrow on September 12th.