Not a Sept. 11 goes by that I don’t recall what happened that day … I worried for hours until I found out my father was safely home from the Pentagon that day.

But, what I really want to remember is Sept. 12 – the day after. 

On Sept. 12, 2001, the country and world became a large community. We see this many times when tragedies happen in towns and cities and every garners support for those affected. This time, we saw everyone become part of a community.

We were all in shock, but we were all looking for ways to help. Some shared rental cars or loaned out their personal vehicles. Some took in strangers who were stranded with nowhere to go. Many found the time on a Wednesday to spend time at a church, praying.

We wore red, white and blue. We looked everyone in the eye. We asked people how they were and truly wanted to know and help. We checked in on friends and relatives. We cared.

Within days or weeks, though, we were back to “normal.” We started to look more like we did on Sept. 10 than we did on Sept. 12.

Is there a way to get back to that? There’s seemingly so much division in our country now, but if we started acting like a community, how much of that would fade away? 

We should all be changed – not just by Sept. 11 where we realize how precious life is, but also by Sept. 12 when we realized every person’s humanity and became a community.

Can we get back to that “normal?”