Nine Eleven, 11 years later; are we united?

     Eleven years ago today, as I paused in my walk up Westminster's East Main Street to chat with the owner of Guillanova's, Cal Bloom stepped out of his barber shop a few doors up the street and announced that a plane had just crashed into one of the big towers at the World Trade Center in New York.
     Wow! Big event. I walked up to stand in front of the TV with Cal and watch the story unfold. As we stood there, a second jet suddenly appeared on the screen and plowed into the second building.
     I don't recall either of us making a sound. I think we were incredulous. I said, "The world just changed."
     One plane was an accident; two planes constitutes a deliberate attack. Who would be stupid enough to attack the United States?
     The nation mourned the deaths of 3,000 people in the attacks in New York and the Pentagon, and in the crash of a third plane which was taken down by American citizens rather than let the terrorists fly into another building full of innocents.
     In the days following, America was one nation, indivisible, united in her resolve, her vision, her purpose.
     We finally killed the mastermind of the attack, but in the meantime, we lost much. We lost too many soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, killed too many civilians ourselves while seeking out bad guys. We soured credibility with much of the world, too, but that doesn't bother most Americans.
     Eventually, we lost that sense of nation that we had called on immediately following those attacks. We have, since then, become a nation divided as never before, except for the years during and immediately following the Civil War.
     All in just 11 short years. Makes me wonder what it would take to make this country's self-governance work again.