It’s not uncommon for Americans to reflect on major events on the 10th, 20th or 25th anniversary of the occurrences.
We do it all the time.
The nation paused last April to reflect on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
We even took time to remember the 20th year since the O.J. verdict.
Next year, we will likely see dozens of documentaries made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Moon Landing.
What is uncommon, and so moving, is the year-by-year remembrance of the attacks on America that took place on Sept. 11, 2001.
I grew up listening to my dad and my uncles talk about where they were and what they were doing the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It was a truly horrific and traumatic day for that generation, but few events have had the impact that 9/11 had on this country.
The 17th anniversary of 9/11 is just as impactful as the 10th or the 15th.
It has become a day of reflection for some and service for others, but it is a day that cannot simply pass us by without us reliving the memories.
These reflections are not forced upon us.
We have to remember, because we lived that day. We have to remember because we made a promise to ourselves, and future generations that we would never forget.
There’s no doubt the tangible images of the day play a large role in why we remember, but there is more to it than that.
On that day, and the weeks and months following, Americans saw the worst and the best of what the world had to offer.
The worst is obvious. It was the 19 hijackers who took over four airliners and crashed three of them into buildings, before the fourth was crashed into the ground in rural Pennsylvania.
The best was more intangible.
It was the spirit of togetherness we all felt after the attacks.
It was the fact that thousands of Americans who had been so divided just months earlier during the highly-contested Presidential election had shed party labels – if only for a brief time – to show the world that America is united.
There are forces of evil that exist that would have us believe we are no longer as unified as we were on Sept. 12, 2001.
I don’t believe that.
Politics is as fractured as it’s ever been, but the people of this country – by and large – love each other and would just as much come to the aid of their neighbor in 2018 as they did 17 years ago.
We’re on our third U.S. President since 9/11, and the country has been split on all three.
But through it all, Americans have kept their promise. They have never forgotten.
