EDITORIAL: For the family of America, danger’s still real 15 years after 9/11

To say that the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — the first in which an outside force reached into America and unleashed that magnitude of murder and damage — has had an unprecedented affect on our nation is an understatement.

Before those deadly attacks, we had a sense of security — a false one, in retrospect — that the United States was immune to such murderous assaults. Much like an individual being diagnosed with a dread disease, we were in many ways in denial that this kind of thing could happen. Not to us. Not here on our own soil. The realization that, yes, this could happen to us and it did happen to us was frightening.

Those of us who are old enough can remember hearing for years — decades, really — that the world was getting smaller, something many of us saw as a good development. As transportation and communications improved, places far away became much more accessible, especially in terms of travel and experiencing food and culture.

But 9/11 also demonstrated that evil and hate had become more accessible as well.

And we learned that even here, in our nation, the strongest in the world, the horrible and unthinkable could happen.

It’s hard to believe that it has been 15 years since those jetliners crashed into the World Trade Centers in New York, and into the Pentagon. Fifteen years have passed since the brave passengers of Flight 93 stood up for their fellow Americans, perishing in a field in Pennsylvania but stopping that group of murderers from killing others. Fifteen years have passed since events that caused more than 3,000 Americans to lose their lives in a single day, and thousands more to die or be injured on battlefields a half a world away.

In a single day, our nation and our world changed.

As with most disasters, the initial reaction of Americans was one to be proud of. We looked past our differences and stood together. We were united.

Sadly, that cohesion has not held. Divisions in America have gotten more pronounced. We have a reached a new normal of a sort in our post-9/11 world and, unfortunately, the driving forces behind ambitious politicians of all stripes, special interests and others focused on personal gain have found advantages in wedge issues and Monday-morning quarterbacking with the benefit of a hindsight that wasn’t available to those who were navigating the perilous times right after 9/11.

Somehow, though, America has managed to keep another attack of the magnitude of 9/11 from happening.

The threat, however, is still there. Americans, as a people, are going to have arguments about policy, culture and everything else. It would be better if we could make our points without stooping to name-calling, labeling, quarreling and baiting, but the temperament of the day doesn’t seem to allow for that, which can be a dangerous distraction.

Another 9/11 can happen if we’re not vigilant. We may have groups in America who really do not like each other, but there are those who hate all of us — regardless of race, political leanings, religious affiliation, gender, sexual preference — simply because we’re Americans. Hiding are rattlesnakes, patiently awaiting the opportunity to strike.

Somehow, we have to come to the understanding that despite our differences and while we work through our problems, we have to stand together and we have to remain alert. America is a family, and even squabbling siblings know that for a family to survive, it has to be united.