September 11, 2004

Who can ever forget where we were on the morning of September 11, 2001?

Who can ever erase the pictures etched on our minds of the scarred Pentagon, that scorched field in Pennsylvania, and the cloud of dust where New York's World Trade Center once stood? Will we ever look at a skyscraper without imagining a large bull's-eye on its side? Will an airplane ever just look like an airplane again?

The tragedy of that day - the loss of lives, the long list of firefighters and police officers whose heroic efforts we honor and whose deaths we mourn - was more than personal. It was national. We cried as one. We had lost many, and we had lost much. A bit of our national innocence and a bit of our national optimism were lost that day three years ago.

As we pay tribute to and remember those who lost their lives and those whose heroic efforts inspired and inspire us, it's worthwhile to also look back and remember some light in the darkness, the silver lining to the cloud that hung so heavily over us on 9-11.

We came together then as one - across economic class, racial, social, geographic, and political divides. We knew then that what binds us together is greater than what divides us. We knew then that, in the face of the horrors of terrorism and the enormity of our personal and social wounds, we're all in this - and can only make it - together.

To read current headlines, it's easy to believe that we can only come together in the face of unspeakable tragedy and evil of unimaginable proportions. The media abounds with stories of profound disagreements over the war in Iraq, fundamentally conflicting views on moral issues like abortion, stem cell research, or gay marriage, and bitter attacks in the Presidential race. It certainly looks as if we have little in common.

I hope that isn't so.

In reminding ourselves, as we recall 9-11, that life is as fragile as it is precious, there is opportunity. Our nation - our way of life - invites us to air our disagreements. It's our allergy to orthodoxy, our worship of diversity and pluralism, that makes us a beacon among nations. Particularly in this political season, it's worth remembering that the person who disagrees with you is not evil. We're all in this grand experiment in democracy and in the fight against terrorism together, our differences notwithstanding. Indeed we're stronger for embracing difference.

That's a lesson of 9-11. I hope we'll remember our legacy of respecting and honoring our diversity and our differences, even as we remember the loved ones, the heroes, and the innocence we lost that day three years ago.