The grief and shock of 9/11 was not only for the dead

America’s collective understanding of itself was mortally injured 25 years ago. What we feel about our nation now, what we live every day breathing about it, is not what it was before September 11, 2001.

In the long run, that’s at least as tragic as the thousands of Americans killed when two airliners were turned into giant, flying weapons aimed at the edifices that housed the literal and figurative powers of capitalism and U.S. military might — the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

Much more than physical structures started careening downward on that day, and it’s not as easy to rebuild. I recall watching the news and trembling, not from fear, but from the emotional trauma of an event that forced me to understand that much of the world doesn’t see my country as a shining city on a hill. It shook me to the core. Why would anybody hate US? We’re the good guys.

If the Vietnam War convinced us our leaders were subject to corruption and completely capable of amoral support for a cause people were largely opposed to, 9/11 launched a series of events that would drive those lessons home and abroad. The shining beacon of democracy was dimming. A nation that viewed itself as forever innocent and good would have to grapple with the fact that some people hated us so badly, we now had to contend with a tactic called terror. And we were told we’d have to go to war with it.

The mindset that crept in was encouraged and nourished by those who profit by making people afraid of each other. Yes, that includes the terrorists, but also the politicians and those we today would call “influencers” who knew how to manipulate a population with mistrust of itself, dividing it against itself, feeding off the resulting weakness as our national unity receded.

We’re still fighting that darkness today. You might not see it. It’s not so easy to spot. But many of us who lived before it grew, remember a brighter, better way to be a nation.

On 9/11, I’ll remember those who died in the planes, in the towers, in the field as they fought their plane’s hijackers.

But I also remember the way we all were, and I hope someday our nation will find its way back to that brighter way.

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher