Today we remember the September 11, 2001 attacks

Let us resolve to strengthen our nation

ARLINGTON, Va. — An American flag is unfurled over the west side of the Pentagon in 2017 (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Sarah Villegas)

The attacks on September 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center, over a Pennsylvania field, and the Pentagon were cataclysmic events that resulted in a chain of decisions and outcomes that reverberate to this day.

Today, we have in front of us the chance to heal wounds that persist. Challenges still lie ahead of us, but those obstacles can be overcome if we remember the unison of caring and patriotism we felt in the days following the greatest attack on American soil.

The thousands of people who perished remain firmly in our collective memory, and especially in the hearts of their families. While most of the victims were Americans, innocent victims from 90 nations also lost their lives in the attacks. This was truly an event that shook the entire world.

Although we saw fellow humans bent on destruction and mayhem that day, we also saw the finest people in the world who reacted bravely to the tragedy. First responders, and individuals at the sites of the attacks worked as teams of fellow Americans to help each other despite the danger that still existed. 

Many rescuers ran toward the World Trade Center buildings and up the many flights of stairs in search of people in need. Firefighters, police, and medical teams arrived on the scene, heroically evacuating as many people as possible from the towers, saving thousands in the process.

In an airplane over Pennsylvania, passengers, knowing their actions would result in their own deaths, saved untold numbers of people when they rushed the cabin occupied by terrorists who were aiming the airplane on a target in Washington, D.C.

In the Pentagon, heroism abounded following the attack by terrorists who flew into the headquarters of America’s military services. Military personnel and civilians alike entered burning and smoke-filled rooms in pursuit of helping evacuate injured people from the damaged building.

Despite the attacks, which the terrorists thought would cause America to collapse as did our buildings, the people of our nation rose to support each other in ways seldom seen in our history. Men, women, and people of all races and backgrounds rushed to their fellow Americans’ aid.

The nation responded to each other at home and abroad with great sacrifices.

Our country needs today to draw on our experience of unity to reach the same common ground that we saw in the days after the September 11th attacks.

We should be optimistic that we can achieve a strong sense of unity once again.

Our enemies abroad are fully aware of our moral and physical power, and we will thus always be a target for dictators and despots, but they can never defeat us.

We stand above all others as the example of the possibilities for a free world. Not perfect, but striving for perfection.

Americans are strong and independent people seeking to live free lives and provide our children a safer world.

Each of us must strive to improve our families, communities, and nation by working together towards the many common goals we still hold true.  Freedom, liberty, and justice.

God bless the victims of September 11th, and the many thousands who lost their lives and were injured in the nation’s response to the attacks.  

God bless America.

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James Hutton is a former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army. Follow him on Twitter @jehutton, GETTR @jehutton, and Truth Social @jehutton