By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher, San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper
Twenty two years ago, America was united in its grief over the 9/11 tragedies. There were no two Americas – Democratic and Republican. There was only America in a time of loss and grief. Today, that is no longer the case. Grief and loss have become commonplace and terrorists such as those who attacked all of us on 9/11, have now become “us”: neighbors and fellow Americans now taking to killing fellow Americans for no good or necessary reasons. This is a sharp contrast with the Spirit of 9/11, which had us “helping” each other, regardless of politics or the color of our skin.
The intended attack on the U.S. Capitol was aborted by the brave Americans on United Flight 93 who gave their lives as they crashed the plane in a field in Pennsylvania, to save fellow Americans. This was in sharp contrast to the January 6, 2020 attack on the Capitol, carried out by supporters of a former President; a man who showed no respect for the very Constitution that he had sworn to “protect and defend”.
We have truly become the “Two Americas” that the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders Report identified when issued 55 years ago. That 431-page report became known as The 1968 Kerner Commission. It’s a document many Americans could stand to read again or, for many, the first time.
Yes. America needs to return to the collective spirit of 9/11 and its focus on the nation as a whole and not its obsession with one man and those who have joined him in making his quest for power greater than our Constitution and those of us it serves. We need the Spirit of 9/11 again and beyond just reading names and ringing the bell once a year for those we lost.
The solution is found in the words of the Bible, 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land”.
Our land needs a healing, and with that healing, a return to the Spirit of 9/11.
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