Remembering September 11 and the United States of America

When the planes struck the towers that early Tuesday morning I was driving to Escondido.  Hearing about the first plane that struck the North Tower, I was listening to Mark & Brian on KLOS.  They reported it was a terrible accident and had few details.  When I arrived at my destination, the second plane had struck and we knew it was no accident but an attack.  Staying there for the morning, I only had radio reports as there were no TV's at the branch where I worked.  I was alone and was dumb founded at the reporting going on that morning.  I did not see the visuals of what took place till later that day.

In the aftermath, President Bush told us to be brave.  That the people responsible for the attack would hear from us.  They and the countries that harbored them would pay.  The resolve he demonstrated gave us hope and encouraged unity.  I don't ever remember the unity of this country being so strong.  Being born 8 years after Pearl Harbor, people who remembered that attack said it was just the same.  Flags were flying everywhere.  There seemed to be a unity of all people. Party affiliations did not play into our agenda and name calling was reserved for the terrorist.  We went to Afghanistan and people knew it would be a matter of time before the leader, Osama bin Laden, would be found and made to pay.

Sadly, by 2003,  a decision to attack a country that had nothing to do with the attack on September 11 divided us and the unity and our resolve seem to erode every month as the war in Afghanistan continued with no capture of the fugitive bin Laden and a second war in Iraq went from mission accomplished to a quagmire that continues today there and in many Middle Eastern countries.

Today there is no unity among the people of the United States.  Democrats are compared to  communists and Republicans let a president continue to bully and belittle anyone who questions what he's doing.  His aides are charged with crimes and in some cases convicted and it seems it's business as usual as each day brings a new tweet or revelation about the chaos in this administration.   His supporters stay steadfast in their support of the President where others try and find ways to bring him down.

President Trump is not a comforting person.  It's not part of his DNA.  He will relish in an accomplishment and rail against those who see otherwise.  Attacking their gender, ethnicity or whatever seems to get the most support from his base. Bullying is on the rise everyday and support for white supremacy groups is surging throughout the world.  

I don't know how this will all end.  I don't have answers but can only do what I can do.  I will not use derogatory terms to describe people and my friends with whom I disagree with.  It just perpetuates what is happening on social media and I will no longer be a part of that.  I will also not support this president as I do believe he is bad person.  Controlled by outside influences that mean to bring harm to our country.

September 11, 2001, was a defining moment in our history.  Looking back, it is hard to watch where once we were united and how far we have fallen from the unity of that time.  Lets hope we can find a way to get back to being the United States of America.