As we stop to remember the solemn events of September 11, 2001, perhaps we can recall nothing more important than the great spirit of togetherness and national unity that the terrible terrorist attacks of that day engendered across the nation.

People–complete strangers, even–began to show much more spontaneous kindness and thoughtfulness for their fellows in the wake of those horrible events.

Of course, over time that unity would wane. But today, it’s given way to open hatred and what could accurately be described as a cold civil war.

Former defense secretary James Mattis recently lamented “the increasing contempt I see between Americans who have different opinions.”

“We have to sit down and remember, if we want this country to survive, we have to work together,” he advised.

So nearly two decades after the World Trade Center fell, the Pentagon fell under siege and Flight 93 came down in Shanksville, Penn., we as Americans would do well to recapture some of that warm national feeling that we seem to have lost.

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