Why 9/11 Did Not Change My Life for the Worse

I live hundreds of miles and seven states away from Manhattan. I didn't lose anyone in the Twin Towers or Pentagon attacks nine years ago. I consider myself the average American. And here's the shocking part, nine-eleven did not shake my spirit.

Do I feel for those who lost lives and loved ones? Naturally, I do. Do I think those living with injuries deserve help? Absolutely, I do. Has my fundamental outlook on the world changed? Not one iota.

Is my post-nine-eleven world different? Yes. I am inconvenienced in airports much more. I'm confronted with bigotry more often. I find myself speaking out against intolerance more than I did before. I am assaulted with tiny-minded people pontificating on subjects about which they have no clue. I see disturbing trends in the body politic that would not have come to fruition had it not been for nine-eleven.

That horrible day nine years ago in New York City did nothing to change my outlook. It only reminded me that evil has existed, does exist, and will exist. It did not create outrage because patriotism was already here. It did not create anger because perspective was already here. It did not weaken because strength was already here. It did not divert energies because my path was already clear.

But before you say, "You have no soul," or "You're being un-American," let me say that I had a soul and was an American before nine-eleven. The Stars and Stripes on my house flew there before nine-eleven. The pride in my heart was instilled there many decades before nine-eleven. For me, nine-eleven was not a life-changing event. For me, it was a test of who I am. It was a test for my country, too.

As abominable that September day was nine years ago, it serves only to remind me that we, as a country, as a people, are resilient. In our 220 years, we have returned from greater defeats a better, stronger nation. When our Capital was burned, we rebuilt better and more beautiful. When our leaders were assassinated, we elected stronger and greater. When we saw evil aggression, we banned together to defeat it. When we saw hopelessness, we reached out with charity and love.

America has always done these things because her people are instilled with the greatest freedoms the world has ever seen. Those freedoms cannot be undone with a demolished building. Those values cannot be erased with hatred. That patriotism cannot be shaken with 3,000 or even 3,000,000 deaths. It is the undeniable constitution of the American spirit that, when confronted with evil, her people will rise up in righteous intolerance whether that evil is without or within.

Yes, my nine-eleven world is different. In it, I remind myself more frequently of the words attributed to Benjamin Franklin: "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security deserves neither and will lose both." In my post-nine-eleven world, I pray a little more, hope a little more, give thanks a little more, look back a little further, and look forward further than I ever thought I could.

When I do, I see a future based not on fear, but on those qualities that built the country I love into the most tolerant, compassionate, and strongest nation on earth. For nine-eleven was not a watershed. Nine-eleven was a test for which the final grade is not yet given, but a test which we know America passed as she has passed all her tests.