Letters to the Editor

Come together, right now

To the editor,

We have just observed the 20th anniversary of the attack by al-Qaeda on the United States of America. That was a time preserved in our collective memory as 9/11 and – for those who lived through the experience – a time that is forever seared in our lives.

Joan and I were visiting friends in Colorado on 9/11 morning, and after the shock wore off, we ended up driving back home, through the plains and across the northern tier, through small towns, prairies green with corn or covered with grazing cattle, and then into the cities and towns of Ohio, New York and, finally, New England.

What I remember most about the trip though, is the people we met along the way. The response of almost everyone we talked with in those long days of driving back home was not blind anger or fear of what the future might bring; it was a palpable sense of Americans of all sorts coming together, of becoming united in purpose, strength, and hope for the future.

Hope is what carried our immigrant ancestors across vast distances to a new life in a strange and distant land, whether that journey was 250 years ago or last year. It was hope of a better future, hope for a chance to work hard and build a better life for themselves and their children. Too often now it’s easy to feel hopeless in this seemingly endless COVID-19 pandemic, in the flood of bad news from all over the world, of being told to fear others or getting caught up in somebody else’s anger.

What I hope that we can do is find time right about now to reflect upon what it really means to be living in the United States of America. We need to again reflect upon the fact that the fundamental concept of our nation, imperfect as it may be, is, United.

It’s not red or blue, it’s not religion or race or skin color. As the first words in our Constitution say, the power, the magic and the essence of America is: “We the People …”

Now’s a great time for us all to remember what really gives us hope for the future.