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closed. My neighbors seemed to simply find one another outside our homes, everyone with a phone close at hand, until we finally began to organize ourselves and go inside to watch the horror together.

On September 11, 2001, as our television sets bombarded us with what could only be described as "Hollywood" images, as we crashed phone lines calling family members, as we wept, prayed, sat silently stunned, or chanted, "oh my god" incessantly; we did it collectively. We, as a nation, gasped. We, as a nation, cried. We, as a nation, prayed. We, as a nation, were horrified, uplifted, worried, scared, angered, driven, overwhelmed, and inspired. We were united. The same images had the same reactions in San Clemente, California as they did in Blacksburg, Virginia. The uncertainty we felt in Jacksonville, North Carolina was also being felt in Bangor, Maine. We united on 9/11 as a people, as a country, as a community. We united in outrage, in fear, in courage, in horror, in sadness, and in hope.

We must always remember 9/11. We must remember it reverently. We must remember it loudly, proudly, boldly, honestly, fearlessly. Our lives forever changed that day. The infinitely indestructible, unbreakable, unstoppable United States of America was indeed a target. There are people who want to destroy our very way of life, the ideals that we uphold, and live by. We cannot forget the way we felt that day. We cannot forget our anguish. It should become a part of our collective memory, told over and over again to remind us of our fragility. How precious our freedoms are. How high the costs of those freedoms truly are.

Mixed in with the horror and catastrophe of the images shown the world on 9/ 11 from our homeland, were the amazing images of heroics. Time and again we witnessed our citizens, our neighbors, our co-workers, our family members reaching out to one another; sacrificing to make a difference. United in a common cause. 9/11 showed our courage, our selflessness, our sense of duty, our familial bonds, our sense of community, our love for one another, our pride in our country, our strength, it showed us united. That's what we must never forget; the strength of unity.

Learn more about this author, Julianne Havens.
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