We are 18 years beyond the terror of September 11, 2001, when two hijacked planes hit and destroyed the World Trade Center Towers, another downed in Pennsylvania, and a fourth plane hit the Pentagon. Almost 3,000 people were killed and 6,000 injured that day.
I was the director of Travelers Aid at Newark Liberty International Airport at that time, and as I went to work that morning, I remember seeing Tower One on fire as I prepared to exit Interstate 78 to enter the airport. After arriving at my office in Terminal B, it was devastating to hear that in less than two hours both trade centers had fallen, and thousands were dead. The days and weeks following the attacks found the nation and the world in mourning. For a moment, churches, mosques, and synagogues were filled, and the nation seemed to be uniting. Perhaps even old wounds would have healed if we had continued the mourning and healing process. Our need for revenge took hold of the nation and we merely covered over our wounds.
Today our nation and the world have become more polarized. It seems to me that it takes less discipline to fight than it does to mend bridges and heal old wounds. Unless we begin to see that the future of humanity is more dependent on our unity, we will strengthen the divisions in our world which will inevitably lead to war or super control by a group, person, or persons who will rule the world through the control of technology and currency. The wake-up call which must be made for all nations today is one that recognizes our complicity in the polarization of the world and calls each human being to bear some responsibility in restoring relationships.