There are certain days in our lives that we will never forget. Sept. 11, 2001, is one of them.
I remember the shock.
I remember the fear.
I remember watching the images on television and wondering how something like this could possibly be happening in America.
But as the days passed, something else happened that I will never forget.
We came together.
For a little while, it didn’t matter whether you were a Democrat or a Republican. It didn’t matter how much money you made, where you lived, what you believed, or who you voted for.
We were Americans.
We put flags everywhere. We stood together. We cried together. We prayed together. We hugged strangers. We checked on our neighbors. We supported families who had lost husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters.
And I remember looking around and thinking, this is what America is supposed to be.
We understood that our differences were nothing compared to what we had in common.
Twenty-five years later, I find myself thinking about that a lot.
Because somewhere along the way, we lost something.
Today, it feels like we are constantly being told that the person on the other side of the political aisle isn’t simply someone who thinks differently — they are someone we should fear, hate or despise.
Democrats versus Republicans.
Left versus right.
Us versus them.
And honestly, I’m tired of it.
I’m tired of watching us tear each other apart.
I’m tired of families arguing over politics. I’m tired of friendships ending because two people vote differently. (I was guilty of that.) I’m tired of Americans forgetting that before we are Democrats or Republicans, we are human beings and we are Americans.
I know we can’t go back to Sept. 12, 2001.
And maybe we shouldn’t want to.
Because that unity came at an unimaginable price.
But I do wish we could find our way back to the spirit of those days — the compassion, the kindness, the willingness to help someone simply because they were another human being.
We don’t have to agree.
We don’t have to vote the same way.
We don’t have to believe the same things.
But we have to start remembering that the person who disagrees with us is not our enemy.
I’ve lived long enough to see this country change in ways I never imagined. I’ve experienced what it feels like to be accepted, and I’ve experienced what it feels like to be judged. I’ve learned that people are capable of both extraordinary kindness and extraordinary cruelty.
And if there is one thing I wish for America today, it is this:
Choose kindness.
Choose compassion.
Choose conversation over hatred.
Choose humanity over politics.
Because I remember a time when, for a brief moment, we stopped asking, “Are you one of us or one of them?”
We simply asked, “How can I help?”
Maybe that’s the America we need to find again.
Not a perfect America.
Not an America where everyone agrees.
Just an America where we remember that we belong to one another.
On this Sept. 11, I will remember the nearly 3,000 people who never made it home.
I will remember the firefighters, police officers, EMTs and ordinary people who ran toward danger.
I will remember the families whose lives changed forever.
And I will remember the country we became in the aftermath.
One country.
One people.
One another.
Twenty-five years later, I pray we can find a little bit of that America again.
Never forget!
Cami Richardson
Kamas