Jackson Free Press

I'm not talking about aviation safety or counterterrorism intelligence. I'm talking about the unity that Americans experienced in the aftermath of that terrible day.

After al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes and used them as missiles to attack the mainland, we were all in shock at the sudden and violent loss of thousands of lives. We mourned together. We commemorated together. We put aside our differences for one fleeting moment. Blacks, whites, Republicans and Democrats were on those planes, in those Twin Towers and in the Pentagon. When those passengers fought back on that plane that crashed in Shanksville, do you think they asked each other what their political affiliation was before they stomed the cockpit? Nope.

One of the speakers at the Equal Voice for America's Families convention I went to on September 6 (I think his name was Juan Angel Garcia, Jr.) said that his grandfather taught him that no matter what the person looks like on the outside, if you cut him or her, you will see red blood. We are a lot more alike than different, and we seemed to realized that briefly after 9/11. All of that seemed to go out the window after the beginning of the war in Iraq and the 2004 presidential election. Now, during this current election cycle, one would think that another civil war was in the works.

Don't get me wrong. I've done my share of venting on the current state of political affairs in this nation, and I've voiced my opinion about people I don't agree with. However, even as there is a brief pause in the airing of negative ads, what goes through my mind now is that after the 2008 election is finally over and the dust has settled, will we be any better as a country in terms of how we relate to each other? Will we be more divided than we were even before 9/11? Did all those people that died on that fateful day lose their lives in vain?

In the grand scheme of things, who your pastor is or whether or not you wear lipstick doesn't matter. What matters is keeping this country from falling apart at the seams.

God bless America.