Eleven years have passed since September 11, 2001. Where were you when you heard the news? Most can answer that question. Whenever an event rocks one’s world, the time and place becomes indelibly etched in one’s mind.
The day was an epiphany for the American public in a long war that began many years before and will continue for many to come.
While the bombings overseas in the 1970s and 1980s brought terrorism to our consciousness, not even the 1993 World Trade Center attack, the subsequent plots against New York landmarks, nor the East Africa embassy bombings gave terrorism a sense of immediacy. The threats seemed elusive, distant and foreign until September 11.
That single day jolted the American people to the reality that there was an enemy at war with America. The enemy was at war with our nation, our freedoms and our values. That day was the “Pearl Harbor” in a different kind of war challenging this generation. The warriors defending the nation were not and are not just in military uniforms fighting overseas. The ranks include the uniforms of first responders and civilians alike. All Americans have begun to understand their own duty as citizens to protect and defend their homeland, their family, and their communities. It has led to a rebirth of allegiance to our founding principles and documents as the defining elements of our national identity.
We are a generous nation, defending the rights of minorities, embracing diversity, safeguarding personal freedoms, and grounded in the principles. As Alexis de Tocqueville remarked, “America is great, because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
Had America not gone through the awakening of the last decade, the nation may have lost sight of the elements that comprise its foundation. Many families may have lost sight of the need to impress upon their children the great fortune we share for the privilege of being a part of America, and the requisite responsibilities citizenship.
To quote Alexis de Tocqueville again, “When the taste for physical gratifications among them has grown more rapidly than their education … the time will come when men are carried away and lose all self-restraint … It is not necessary to do violence to such a people in order to strip them of the rights they enjoy; they themselves willingly loosen their hold … they neglect their chief business, which is to remain their own masters.”
Joan Neuhaus Schaan is the fellow in homeland security and terrorism at the Baker Institute and the coordinator of the Texas Security Forum. She also serves on the advisory board of the Transborder International Police Association. She has served as the executive director of the Houston-Harris County Regional Homeland Security Advisory Council and on the board of Crime Stoppers of Houston, Inc.