Remembering: On one of its worst days, America found its best self (by Pete Buttigieg). [View all]

[demmiblue]

I was a sophomore in college when the planes hit. My roommates and I sat transfixed on a futon, glued to the horror unfolding on NBC’s Today Show. Years later, I would find myself carrying an M-4 in Kabul, Afghanistan — the country that had hosted the men who had conceived and implemented unimaginable attacks against other human beings. But in that moment I just sat there, stunned.

Hundreds of miles away from my dorm room, thousands of New Yorkers from all walks of life came together to respond to the urgency of an unthinkable act and a crumbling skyline. Americans did the same in the halls of the Pentagon and in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

We all have personal stories that we share on days like today. Where was I on that September morning 18 years ago? We tell and retell where we were because that was where my generation lost its innocence after the relative peace of post-Cold War America, suddenly witnessing how a terror network — hosted by a rogue regime presiding over a failed state — could bring the most powerful country in the world to a halt.

In those early days, we set aside our differences and stepped towards somewhere kinder. America felt more decent in its mourning, more morally aware. We were reminded of the energies we can summon during moments of crisis. Around Ground Zero, we discovered something approaching common ground.

https://medium.com/the-moment-by-pete-for-america/remembering-16da2039774f