I remember how we as Americans came together in our grief and our resolve. This event united us, unlike the current battle which has divided families, neighbors, and coworkers. Today, I struggle to remain hopeful that we will find our way back together.
Originally published in The Nevada Appealon September 26, 2001
My Own Battlefields in This New War
“It’s awful here. BUT I’M ALIVE,” our older daughter finally wrote in response to one of my frantic emails. She had moved to New York City just six days before the attack. Phone calls, even cell-phones were useless as all the other worried mothers around the world tried to get through. The entire morning I anxiously imagined her protected in large God-like hands. All the while, she slumbered in the arms of Morpheus, asleep 150 blocks away from the World Trade Center.
Maybe I had neglected that piece of her training: In case of national disaster, call your mother. But what precedent did I have? Who could have imagined this?
And a week later, as I listened to President Bush tell us about this new kind of war, to be fought on different…
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Lorie Smith Schaefer 
I am Canadian, but I remember how this even united at first, and then divided on the basis of race, religion, etc. The current crisis had the same effect (at least here in Canada). We united, we talked big about taking care of each other, of standing together, etc. Today we are divided, we are at war with each other over our perceived ‘rights’, science vs religion, protesting outside hospitals and verbally attacking the very healthcare workers we cheered and banged pans for at 7 o’clock every evening just a year ago. We are a fickle and selfish people (the human race) and sometimes I despair. I’m not sure we were ever actually ‘together’, but I too live in the hope that we will one day wake up and find our way there.
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