EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS COMMENTARY FROM UTAH COUNTY CLERK/AUDITOR JOSH DANIELS IS PART OF UTAH POLITICAL UNDERGROUND’S OPINION SERIES REFLECTING ON 9/11’s 20th ANNIVERSARY.
As we reflect on the twenty-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, many will recall the memories of where they were and how they felt when they first learned of the heinous attacks on our homeland. But, in the memory of that shock and horror collectively experienced by Americans across the country, we might neglect to remember the more important memory of how we collectively responded.
Life is not governed by the external forces we experience; rather, life is how we choose to respond and react to such forces. The character of America was not embodied in our collective anguish that fateful day. It was in our collective response to it.
For me, the shock of 9/11 will forever be replaced by the significance of the spirit of 9/12. That Tuesday morning found me finishing my final week of infantry combat training at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. For me, I wouldn’t fully experience the spirit of 9/12 until four days later on Sunday 9/16. After traveling on one of the first planes out of San Diego that week, I landed at Newark, NJ just in time to usher in a new week by watching the sunrise behind the altered skyline of lower Manhattan on the backdrop of a blood-red sky filled with smoke across the Upper New York Bay.
Later that day, when I arrived at my next duty station in northern Maryland, I was touched by the neverending series of American flags flying on homes and businesses across the countryside. These symbols, flown in the spirit of national unity, were a message to me that the American resolve and commitment to the principles of our way of life were undying and strengthened in light of these attacks.
Rather than anger and hatred, Americans seemed to come together in love, compassion, service, and unity–to stand together in a united fashion to support our shared set of principles. The events of that week would forever alter the nature of my military service. Years later I was deployed to Fallujah Iraq and assigned to patrol the streets and countryside of the Anbar Province in the epicenter of the Sunni insurgency. Each day I left the protective “wire” of our base for various operational assignments, I would recall that memory of rural Maryland adorned in a sea of American flags and remember that the spirit of America was one of unity behind the principles of freedom, courage, and compassion. That same spirit guided the way I led my Marines in Iraq and continues to lead the way I serve in local government.
I applaud the closing of this chapter in our history and the reduction of our long-lasting armed intervention in foreign affairs. However, I lament the level of domestic political division we are currently experiencing. On this anniversary of 9/11 let us remember the feelings of unity that began on 9/12. Let us rekindle those feelings of national unity and of love for our fellowmen. Let us find ways to better understand one another and be a force for good in our communities. Let us serve selflessly. Let us honor the memories of those lost that day, and throughout combat operations long after, by forging a better world for our children–a world based on the best virtues America has to offer.
