That post-9/11 "moment of national unity" was a LOT shorter than we like to remember.
We didn't really "come together as a nation." We learned we have common enemies. It didn't take long for some of us to forget even that, and encourage others to forget it as well.
We didn't really "come together as a nation." We learned we have common enemies. It didn't take long for some of us to forget even that, and encourage others to forget it as well.
We didn't gain "unity" so much as FOCUS. Priorities shifted for a while. It did not take long for that national focus to strike the prism of politics and scatter into dramatically different outlooks and agendas, all claiming 9/11 was the event looming largest in their minds.
It's lamentable in some ways, but totally understandable in others. We have serious divisions. Our disagreements are not trivial. Learning that we are vulnerable to attack did not erase those differences. On a long enough timeline, it might have exaggerated them.
How long did it really take before we heard the first organized voices - not one or two lone nutjobs, but organized political forces - saying we had it coming, we needed to understand the grievances behind 9/11, we brought it on ourselves, or it was all a conspiracy?
I suspect the fracturing would come faster and harder in today's social media environment. Speaking of which, it's amazing how quickly legacy media squandered the surge of attention and trust it received after 9/11. Rathergate was almost exactly 3 years later.
9/11 would prove to be a watershed moment in our great loss of confidence in large institutions. The more we learned about the attack, the more we wondered how it could ever have happened, how all those warning signs were missed by our blind bureaucracy.
It was also a watershed moment of heroism, a dark day when heroes shone bright, as we were awed to discover that giants walked among us, and they were the guy sitting next to us on an airplane, the co-worker who ran back into the collapsing building, the beat cop and firefighter.
But which of those strains runs stronger in us today: submission to blind bureaucracy, or rugged heroism? The problem is that we still lack confidence in big institutions, but we lost even more confidence in ourselves, and trust in each other.
19 years later, we have a "common culture" that actively hates the nation itself and absolutely despises a good portion of its citizens. The climate is one of perpetual distrust in our fellow citizens and demands for abject submission to that blind bureaucracy.
Multi-millionaire athletes think nothing of taking a knee during the national anthem or disrespecting the flag that flew so high on 9/11. Police are treated like terrorists while violent criminals run free. Our kids are taught to hate America as much as Mohamed Atta did.
If there's one thing I wish I could give people too young to remember 9/11, one thing from the aftermath I would give them as a treasure to cherish, it would not be any phantom memory of "unity." It would be an echo of the love we felt for a moment as we learned the full story.
Love is always an act of faith, a leap from the lion's head. It takes courage because you never really know how it's going to work out. It can fade away over time, or be ruined in a fiery betrayal. Love takes courage, and courage shines clearest in times of great danger.
We learned on 9/11 what we were made of, what our neighbors, first responders, soldiers, and strangers on a plane could do, and we were amazed. We weren't unified for long, but for a moment we were in love. I wish I could teach kids how to love America like that, every day. /end
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