September 11, 2021

Nous sommes tous Américains. “We are all Americans” ran the sub-headline in the left-of-center French newspaper, Le Monde, on September 12, 2001. The world was aghast at the horrifying attack on the leader of the free world.

In the immediate aftermath, Americans were reflexively united in a common purpose of rebuilding what had been destroyed, and recommitting to expanding freedom and democracy in the world. And, yes, many of us also wanted a measure of revenge against whoever committed this atrocity on innocent fellow citizens.

But I remember our FedEx driver saying simply “God bless America” when he handed me a delivery a few days after. He wasn’t being mawkish, ironic, or angry. In fact, it didn’t even strike me as a political comment. I had no idea if he stood on the left or right, and didn’t really care. As a fellow American, I just appreciated the sentiment. This was a neo-patriotism borne from an attack on our collective values.

So what happened?

Twenty years after 9/11, we live in a country that’s more divided and fractious than it’s been since the Civil War. Economic disparity is widening. The idea of individual sacrifice for the greater good has become a sucker’s move. We can’t seem to agree on objective facts. We don’t seek to persuade, we only want to win. We have fewer collective (and connective) values. A significant cohort of our citizens don’t even want the U.S. to be a democracy anymore. These are strange, sad times; discouraging, puzzling, even frightening. Some historians say it’s actually always been this way. Really?

But it’s alright, it's alright

For we lived so well so long

Still, when I think of the

Road we’re traveling on

I wonder what’s gone wrong

I can’t help it, I wonder what’s gone wrong?

“American Tune” ©Paul Simon 1973