Wiping Away Tears

September 11, 2001, nineteen years later, I still remember. I remember we were all stunned, I remember we all hurting, I remember we were all Americans. For the few days after, it wasn’t Republicans or Democrat, it wasn’t Left or Right.

That year, we didn’t care about a divisive election less than a year before. We cared for the people in Pennsylvania, New York, and Washington who lost loved ones. We cared for the babies who’s Daddy’s and Mommy’s weren’t coming home. We cared for each other.

I pray we never face that kind of pain as a nation again. Yet I do pray we respond that way again. The lesson we were taught so excruciatingly nineteen years ago, still rings true. We are one nation under God united in the pursuit of liberty, no matter how painful the battle.

I do not get political. I’m not talking about votes, sides, or opinions. I’m simply remembering a time when we looked in each other’s eyes, not in anger, but to wipe away the tears.