To Honor Their Lives

September 11, 2026

This year, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of our country, we also mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. These were attacks on symbols of our society: the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a probable attack on Washington, D.C., that was thwarted by ordinary people showing extraordinary courage. This was an attack on our country, on the promise and potential it represents, and on the rights we claim as individuals and as a people.

Thousands of lives were lost on that day and have been lost in the years since: people at or en route to work, going about their daily activities; police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel; civilians helping in any way they could; people who rescued the living and recovered the dead; people who cleared the debris and preserved mementos of lives lived and lost.

To hold these souls in our memory, to “never forget,” we engrave their names in stone and read them out at memorial services. But how do we, collectively, honor their lives in the way that we live ours?

The horrific attacks of September 11 constituted an assault on our way of life. We should have united in defiance of this attempt to weaken our democracy and our republic. We should have come together to show the world that we the people are strong enough to withstand any assault on our values and ideals. Instead, the loss of innocent lives was exploited for political purposes to deepen divisions among us. If you didn’t say the right words or demonstrate the right attitude, your patriotism was called into question.

People from all over the world were killed in those attacks. Not everyone who died that day was a white, Christian American. But after that day, fear-mongering was kicked into high gear, especially that based on racial or religious prejudice. Anyone who looked remotely like one of the hijackers or who might be a Muslim, a Sikh, or a Hindu was suspected of being a terrorist.

This suspicion became outright hatred, expressed openly, in the first term of the current president. Now, in his second term, the expression of hatred is absolutely vile and extends to anyone who is not white and European (or South African). Members of this administration embrace white Christian nationalism, which seeks to use a repressive form of Christianity to gain and hold political power (the way Al‑Qaeda, ISIS, and the Taliban distort and abuse Islam; think about that).

Under this administration, treatment of immigrants, here legally or not, is lawless, heartless, cruel, and inhumane. The president has even proposed rescinding the citizenship of naturalized citizens. He engages in corrupt and illegal activities with impunity and doesn’t care. His toadies don’t care. Do they really believe there will be no reckoning, no consequences?

The attacks of September 11, 2001, should have strengthened our resolve to stay on the path to the more perfect union that our founders envisioned. But too many gullible people have been led astray. How can we honor the lives lost on and since September 11, 2001, if we elect representatives who do not honor the lives of people who are simply trying to make their way in this country—pursuing life, liberty, and happiness—today?