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Twenty years ago, the United States launched into a War on Terror on behalf of ourselves, our allies, and innocents suffering at the hands of evil strongmen. We found unity under a common love of freedom and set an example for other nations.

Today, that unity is fractured, leaving the United States more vulnerable than ever before.

What should be discussions about our role as a global leader have devolved into tedious arguments about the optics of diplomacy.

In a sane world, those who earn the right to negotiate these things would consider how our allies in the free world view their decisions, but we no longer live in a sane world, and our country’s leaders have made it their business to appease the enemy at the expense of freedom’s cause.

We have become so entangled with our adversaries that some, unfortunately, have forgotten what it means to be American.

Pundits earn their stripes on the news circuit by mocking the principles that have compelled millions to risk their lives for a chance to step on U.S. soil.

Sports moguls and Big Tech luminaries have made it clear they will prioritize market access over security until that choice becomes unprofitable.

The COVID-19 pandemic proved decisions made decades ago to rely on China for medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to be fatal miscalculations.

We depend on OPEC for our oil, and most recently, on the Taliban to guarantee safe passage for American citizens out of Afghanistan. Time and again, our leaders have assumed that if handed the trappings of freedom, hostile regimes will behave like normal countries. This, of course, is not meant to be.

How, then, do we unravel ourselves from this dangerous web, and rediscover our sense of national unity? We must do the painful work of remembering why we vowed to “never forget” Sept. 11, 2001.

On that day, a new generation watched thousands die at the hands of an unknown enemy for the crime of being American.

America still thrives in defiance of divisiveness

Fear forced us together, but in the days that followed those horrific acts of mass murder, we rediscovered the ties that have bound us for centuries. Our vulnerability deepened into loyalty that transformed ordinary people into heroes who ran toward danger to save their countrymen.

That common bond was enough; an attack on one was an attack on all. Our love of country was defined by our desire to protect one another.

America, with all her imperfections, still thrives in utter defiance of hatred, divisiveness, and destruction.

But pledging allegiance is not enough; no bill or sweeping policy initiative has the power to erase the hurt our enemies will exploit against us. Although the panic of that awful morning has faded, their desire to make an example of us has not.

The more time that passes between each Sept. 11 and the 9/11 attacks, the more obvious it becomes that history slips away from those who fail to heed its lessons.

There is a reason why, so many years later, we reopen the wounds from that day and recall where we were and how we felt when the towers fell. We do this to memorialize the fallen, and to remind ourselves that we are not and never were alone in our grief.

This year and every year, I pray that all Americans will open the door to that collective memory, and rediscover the love of country, freedom, and one another that united us in our darkest hour.