Let's leave the sorrow and rage in the past and start a new chapter for America

The Dispatch Editorial Board

Renata Macedo from Brazil, studying in New York in 2003, runs her fingers over an American flag with the names of all the people who died at the World Trade Center during the attacks on 9/11. Macedo was looking for the name of her friend during the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The sky was clear and the brightest shade of blue on the morning 2,977 people were murdered by 19 terrorists who hijacked four jetliners.

The morning after, America woke up a changed nation. Not all of it was for the worst.

There was unity on Sept. 12, 2001, as waves of pride and empathy engulfed the nation.

More:9/11 hijackers were 'hiding in plain sight' before the 2001 attacks. How did they do it?

Most will recall the red, white, and blue flags displayed as prominently as anything seen on the Fourth of July during the days following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The dead weren't abstract figures. They were us.

Most of us still pause to honor them on the anniversary of the deadliest attack on the United States in the country's history.

The deep feelings may have faded, but back then, so many of us shed tears for those who lost mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters.

We felt it when the twin towers at the World Trade Center were reduced to rubble, the Pentagon was rocked and a plane filled with passengers who fought back against the terrorists crashed in a field near a reclaimed Pennsylvania strip mine.

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“A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve,” then President George W. Bush declared from the Oval Office hours after the attack.

"America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining," Bush said.

There was unity that day and a few that followed.

There was also fear. There was also rage.

There were cries for justice and revenge that led to the persecution of innocent Muslims and a war in Iraq an another in Afghanistan that became the longest in U.S. history until it ended haphazardly on Aug. 31.

More:Fact check: Deaths in Afghanistan first US military combat deaths there since February 2020

Nearly 2,300 United States military service members died in Afghanistan during that 20-year war, according to a recent casualty report from the Department of Defense.

Another 3,528 service members were killed in action from 2003 to 2011 during U.S. operations in Iraq.

Front page of September 12, 2001, Columbus Dispatch with coverage of the 9/11 terror attacks.

America was a changed nation when the sun rose 20 years ago today.

Like then, our foundation is shaking today.

President George W. Bush puts his arm around firefighter Bob Beckwith while standing in front of the World Trade Center in New York during a tour of the devastation.

As we battle political strife and a deadly enemy so small it cannot be seen with the naked eye, the coronavirus, the time is long overdue for unity.

This time, it should not be out of sorrow or dread.

It is time we turned the page to a new chapter.

Let's embrace the sort of empathy we felt for those killed on 9/11 as we fight against the coronavirus pandemic. More than 650,000 Americans have died of coronavirus.

Let us truly unify behind the conviction that each and every one of us is worthy of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

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As William Tyler Page wrote in 1917 as part of The American Creed, let us be "... a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes."

That last part is important: Freedom isn't free. To make sure we all enjoy freedom, we at times must make sacrifices as individuals for the good of the many. And relatively speaking, some sacrifices are pretty easy, such as wearing a mask and getting vaccinated.

We should reject the fears that keep us divided and oppressed due to race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and a host of other "isms."

We should abandon the notion that we cannot work together if we see the world through different eyes and elect politicians who will do the same.

We must work together to address climate change to protect this home we call Earth.

Deborah Jurcak of Grapevine, Texas, leans in to touch the World Trade Center tower beams in the 9/11 exhibit in the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas. Tony Gutierrez | Associated Press

President George W. Bush was right about this point in his Sept. 11 speech: America is the brightest beacon for freedom in the world.

We are that beacon and more.

The twin towers of the World Trade Centers created an iconic image in the New York City skyline.

Terrorists shattered steel and collapsed what were at one time the nation's tallest buildings. But they did not dent the steel of American resolve.

It is time we shined the light for those who will not remember the pain that lingered in our hearts when we woke up on Sept. 12, 2001.

Let the wave take us away.

We can do this.

Editorials are The Dispatch Editorial Board's fact-based assessment of issues of importance to the communities we serve. These are not the opinions of our reporting staff members, who strive for neutrality in their reporting.