Remembering 9/11: The Day We United

September 11 will always be a day we remember. Terrorists attacked our country with every intention of destroying our way of life.

But they hadn’t counted on our faith and our resilience. Instead of falling apart, we came together.

Yes, at first we were afraid. Everything stopped for a time as we mourned our losses and cleaned up the rubble left behind by those destructive acts. But as we mourned, healed, and rebuilt together our ability to rebound knit us together like a tightly woven cloth. We were united in the way that the United States was always meant to be united.

We were determined they would not steal our lives.

And they didn’t.

But as time went on, our evil foe found other ways to accomplish his goals. He realized that to win, he must separate us from our core beliefs so we will not come together in times of crisis.

So he created more distractions.

And he devised ways to divide us even further.

He’s back in full force and he’s chipping away at our way of life. Only this time, instead of terrorists from outside of our country, he planted them within.

And the cloth that bound us tougher has begun to unravel.

He recruited people to instill hatred and fear among us and caused a rift that seems impossible to mend.

Families who love one another could no longer gather.

Communities who worshiped together could no longer assemble.

And the confusion and uncertainty continue to separate our country even as we try to get back to our routines.

And it seems as though hatred will prevail.

But it doesn’t have to…

Each and every one of us can choose love over hate, compassion over tyranny, and God’s truth over the lies of this world.

Please, as we commemorate another year since that day we all can’t ban from our minds, remember the things that united us that day.

We don’t have to agree on every detail, but we should support the principles this country was founded on and we should be able to do so in a manner that treats everyone with dignity and respect.

If we don’t, we are truly no better than the terrorist who tried to destroy our way of life all those years ago.