A House Divided Cannot Stand

I think this quote comes from Abraham Lincoln, a man who lived through some of the darkest days our country has experienced. For my generation, September 11, 2001 is our equivalent to the tragedy of the Civil War. Today, as I dropped the kids off to school I noticed all the flags our town has put up in remembrance of that day. The radio station I listened to played clips of the news reports and statements made by government officials on that day. I started having flashbacks to the emotions from that time. I remember sitting in shock in my classroom trying to sift through what I saw on the news two minutes before I walked out the door. I kept thinking it was a movie stunt and COULD NOT be real. I was instructed by my superintendent to keep the school day as normal as possible and provide a calm atmosphere for the kids. While I faked my way through the day, all I really wanted to do was grab my son and husband and curl up in my bed and never let them go. My reaction was not abnormal, as most of us wanted our loved ones near us. We as a nation were in shock for days, weeks, months. We could not wrap our mind around what had happened. One of my strongest memories is that the skies were deadly quite as all aircraft was grounded for days. It was almost eerie that there were no planes flying in our blue sky. I remember being in a fog and not really believing that something like that could happen. But it did. Then, we a nation cleared the fog from our head, pulled up our boot straps and came together. It has been written that the terrorist attacks were a wake-up call for America. We as nation were shaken out of our complacency and became united in our patriotism, our love of our country and our willingness to stand up to those who wanted to disrespect our country.

But where are we now? Eight years later and I am not sure that the patriotism is still there. The flags are being waved, the photo/video montages are being shown. We still honor the firemen, policemen and good citizens that risked their lives to help others during the attacks. In fact, at school yesterday, my kids wrote letters to policemen and firemen in our community to thank them for the help they give and pay tribute to those that helped with the events around the attacks. My daughter wasn't even alive then, but that day still affects her life, our lives, our country.

Or Does It?

With the recent presidential election our country has changed. We have turned on one another. Americans have become piranhas and are eating each other alive. Politically speaking, lines in the sand have been drawn and no one is crossing them. I have been trying to read different websites to understand what is going on with the politics our country because it is important to me and the future of my family to know how my country is being changed. There has been more name-calling and slandering against our own citizens than I can ever remember. If you are for President Obama and his policies you are considered a liberal-socialist. If you are against him you are called a conservative-racist. I am a believer in standing up for what you believe in, but does that mean you attack those who disagree with you? We as nation are NOT united. We no longer know what it means to be Americans as a whole. A house divided cannot stand and neither can a nation divided. As evidenced in the Civil War, nobody wins, especially not our country when we as a nation are divided. It grieve my heart that we have lost the feeling of patriotism and what that truly means. The patriotism that replaced our complacency has now been replaced with hostility. Will it ever return?

Today I am saddened for the families personally touched by the terrorist attacks. My hope is that those lives lost will AGAIN be a reminder of an America that is UNITED and we will not continue to be a nation divided.