Remembering the Day When We Were All One
Sep 11th, 2009 | 8 responses
Five years after that horrific day in September 2001, the following letter appeared in TIME:
Five years after 9/11, our nation ought to be as united as it was on that tragic day. We should have held on to the outpouring of global goodwill and support we received then. We should have remained laser-focused on rooting out and bringing to justice those responsible for the attacks. We should have remained committed to making our homeland more secure. After 9/11 our nation should have rededicated itself to the Constitution, the rule of law and respect for human and civil rights. Like most Americans, I remember 9/11 with sadness, a sadness that deepens when I think of what our country could have been five years after the day when we were all one.
Today, eight years after 9/11, as we once more remember the horrors of that dreadful day and commemorate the thousands of Americans who lost their lives or were injured, I wish that Americans could be once more united on matters that are truly important to our country
Today, we have a new administration, a new party in power. Some of the issues and problems which had kept our country divided are no longer with us. Many of those issues have been resolved by working together, across party lines.
Some issues persist, such as the two wars that were precipitated by that dastardly attack.
Some issues and problems have only been replaced by new ones. Some real ones, such as how to revive our economy and how to tackle the health care crisis. Some fabricated or imagined, such as the rumors and accusations flying around the background, legitimacy, intentions, patriotism, and even the moral fiber of our President.
It is sad that, in addition to remembering those who we lost on 9/11, we also have to wonder once more what our country could have been eight years after “the day when we were all one.”
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8 Responses to “Remembering the Day When We Were All One”
[...] Five years after 9/11, our nation ought to be as united as it was on that tragic day. We should have held on to the outpouring of global goodwill and support we received then. We should have remained laser-focused on rooting out and bringing to justice those responsible for the attacks. We should have remained committed to making our homeland more secure. After 9/11 our nation should have rRead more at http://themoderatevoice.com/45996/remembering-the-day-when-we-were-all-one/ [...]
The whole nation has a case of ADD.
Dear Dorian, Thank you for this serious reflection. Today at church, services were geared to remembering the lives of the innocents, and much prayer and talking about the families in the first circle, as well as the hearts and minds of any person afflicted. It's for a lot of us, a time to be quiet, uncynical, just resting at memory.
Thank you.
dr.e
[...] Continued here: Remembering the Day When We Were All One [...]
When I think of the great potential our country has (which it has proven at times throughout it's history) and what we could do if only we had the courage and vision to unite in pursuing a destiny worthy of our promise, I can't help but feel a deep melancholy . There have been so many missed opportunities… we have such a long, long way to go.
Sadly, we were not “one.” There were people that looked upon this disaster and saw Mr. Opportunity knocking.
How to erode our civil rights. How to involve us in a wrongheaded war in Iraq. How to advance their ideology of “President as elected king.” That's the opportunity that those people saw. By exploiting emotions and claiming to be “one of us” they succeeded. Only years later does what they did to us begin to creep into our conscience.
Thank you Dorian. . .
last year it seemed like it was only yesterday, and if only we could start over fresh we could be a nation united again. . .one year later, this day, it seems like the memory of us united was a long time ago. . . .
may the families know peace, this day. . .
Something sounded familiar about the date 9-11 but I just can't seem to remember what is was…. something about the CIA and Cheney, Oh, well, the memory is gone…