Looking back.

I was sitting at my desk working and my cell phone rang. It was one of my friends from the the police department.

“Hey, did you hear about the plane hitting the World Trade Center?” she asked.

“No, what?”

“Yeah- just happened.”

“Wild. Keep me posted.”

Fifteen minutes or so later, the phone rang again.

“Oh my god, another one- and there are reports of other planes being hijacked.”

I began scanning the radio for the news channel. And the reports were all over the place. 

So was the horror.

Work kind of ground to a halt- we all kept stopping to hear the latest.

Once I got home, I spent the evening watching news reports, replays and press conferences.

The images of the burning buildings, the people fleeing in terror, the crumbled ruins of lives parading across the screen. I wanted to turn off the TV, but I couldn't. For some reason, I couldn't turn away from it.

The who’s, how’s, and why’s were discussed late into the night... They were discussed for weeks, months, and years after. They are still discussed today. But they are of little import to the victims and their families.

You didn’t have to have friends or family in New York or DC to feel the grief- you just had to be human.

That people were saved, that we came together, that our nation endured- those were the stories that we needed then, and need now. Because, despite the gut-wrenching horror that played out that day, we remained strong. We were united. Our prejudices and jealousies were cast aside. And everywhere you looked, American flags.

It was the Pearl Harbor moment of our generation. We swore to never forget. We swore to remain strong. We swore to remain united. We owed it to the 2,977 people who died that day.

Fifteen years on, we seem have gone back on those vows. We seem to be tottering on a precipice overlooking chaos- a chaos we refused to let that September morning bring.

Instead of being united, we're drifting apart and allowing political demagogues to drive the wedges further between us.

The police, who were praised then, are greeted with suspicion now.

Hatred is spewed for those who don't share one group's political views, sexual orientation, or skin color.

But we're not too far gone. We can't be. If we are, we're doomed.

And I don't accept that.

We are the United States of America.

Indivisible.

By the people, for the people. And we shall not perish from the earth.