Even though evil took hold of New York City as well as Washington, D.C. and Shanksville, PA that 2001-day, good prevailed. First responder heroes risked and gave their lives to save many and people came together worldwide putting aside differences created by borders and political leadership. Americans too put aside their differences giving the United States a newfound opportunity that was sadly squandered.

For myself who had seen the burning towers, the twisted wreckage and dust-covered gray landscape in and around Ground Zero, breathed its acrid and toxic fumes, and have known people who had tragically died that day like so many downstate New Yorkers, today’s America, excluding the country’s historically inclusive economic prosperity, is an affront.

The United States is the most divided since the Civil War (1861-1865) with each side so entrenched and unwilling to listen to another’s view or compromise the country seems headed towards violent dissolution. At the same time first Amendment rights of “Freedom of Speech,” “Freedom of Religion” and “Freedom of the Press” are under attack. In fact some are so emboldened they even call for the U.S. Constitution to be replaced by some new document that would no doubt remove guaranteed rights and create an intolerant one-party totalitarian model based solely on their ideology where dissent or difference of opinion could lead to “re-education," imprisonment or even execution. Suggestions about creating death camps and concentration camps have already gained acceptance with some.

Fascist right wing “nationalist” and “supremacist” groups are resurgent leading to an increase in hate crimes against non-Whites, Jews and Muslims. Likewise fascist groups on the left such as ANTIFA violently attack people who diverge from their ideology including members of the media and law enforcement. And as each side projects their hate onto others to sow division, there is no civility such that growing numbers of people are afraid to express their opinions fearful of being shunned, fired, harassed, or physically attacked. If something like 9/11 happened today there would undoubtedly be many who would celebrate for their own political and ideological gain. Symptomatic of this revulsive environment, one person even cynically said of the brave NYPD and FDNY heroes who sacrificed their lives so not one person would be left to die that day – they “committed suicide since they did not have to go into [the burning towers]!”

From the political front, the attempted coup, a concept so un-American and unimaginable, has failed for the time being. The 2020 election cannot come soon enough to put an end to continued efforts to bring about this coup. Washington, D.C. is hopelessly divided with each political party engaged in zero sum politics. No one wants to work together and candidates vow retribution against their opponents. It also does not help the American media has lost objectivity and taken sides – in the process undermining their first amendment cause and furthering the divide.

At the same time, people of faith are demonized, churches, synagogues and mosques are labeled “hate organizations” and attempts are made to reinvent America through a “cultural revolution” that destroys historic monuments and purges our history books of some 200 years of history.

Likewise the American economic model that ensures the greatest economic freedom and highest standards of living is under serious attack; calls for socialism resonate loudly especially among a younger generation that mistakenly believes government is the solution to all problems, demands a guaranteed income for all and the expropriation of property and assets of the so-called wealthy class to make it happen.

Add the growing attacks on life – the idea of post-birth abortions, spread of euthanasia, and calls for population control and these are dark days indeed for America. History has proven time and time again that such demagoguery, intolerance, the purging of rights, population control and cultural and economic revolutions lead to mass exterminations of innocent people through pogroms and famine and the rise of the likes of Adolf Hitler.

As one takes time to remember that profound 9/11 day in 2001, the heroes who sacrificed their lives that day, the many first responders dying from cancers caused by the Ground Zero fallout, the 2,977[1] innocent civilians indiscriminant of religion (yes Muslims too were victims despite misguided blame on their religion) and nationality – men, women and children alike who died, some of whom some of us knew as friends or family, and the 9/11 families who painfully endure permanent emptiness from their loss, a loss so great it has robbed future generations of countless people who will never be born – we can only pray for a return of the 9/11 goodwill and that America discovers healing, common purpose and tolerance that bridges every race, gender, religion and trait that makes each person so unique, special and individual and is a nation where all lives matter from the moment of conception to the last breath.

Note: Header image was created from photographs of World Trade Center remains and torn American flag caught on razor wire, I took on 20 October 2011, Ground Zero, New York, NY and 24 January 2015, Bronx, NY respectively to symbolize the horrors of 11 September 2001 and the current and growing destruction of American values modeled on freedom and equal rights and protections for all.