The Meaning of Liberty, 25 Years After 9/11
This month brings a unique convergence of celebration and remembrance, one that is both ebullient and somber.
We celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. We celebrate the United States Constitution and the enduring ideals it established. And we remember September 11, 2001.
For the National Liberty Museum, this year’s commemoration of 9/11 is particularly poignant. As we celebrate the freedom to peacefully assemble, we are reminded of the terrible forces that attacked our nation because they abhorred the very ideals that define our experiment in self-government: the freedom to practice and express our faith, a free and independent press, the freedom to speak our minds, the freedom to petition our government, and the freedom to gather peacefully with others.
In the aftermath of 9/11, our nation found itself united by a common identity and a shared belief in a fundamental American truth: that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It was, in part, these uniquely American ideals that the terrorists sought to destroy.
But they did not prevail.
Instead, we united.
As the attacks unfolded, ordinary Americans became extraordinary heroes. Passengers aboard Flight 93 fought back against the terrorists, their courage captured forever in the words, “Let’s roll.” First responders rushed into burning buildings and collapsing structures to save lives. They carried survivors from the rubble and recovered the remains of those who had been lost. Across the country, ordinary citizens did whatever they could to help.
We united in mourning.
We became a collective shoulder for those who had lost parents, children, spouses, friends and colleagues. We gathered in churches and houses of worship to pray. We met in parks and public spaces to remember. We freely assembled, not simply because the Constitution protected our right to do so, but because coming together was part of how we began to heal.
In gathering, we expressed our common grief. And in expressing that grief together, we strengthened our common resolve.
Twenty-five years later, America is not perfect. It never has been.
But the American experiment was never premised on perfection. Our founders gave us a task: to continue the pursuit of “a more perfect Union.”
That distinction matters.
A free nation is not one that has achieved perfection. It is one that possesses the liberty to pursue it, to debate, disagree, worship, speak, assemble, create, challenge, and work together in the continuing effort to build something better.
That pursuit is not always easy. It is not always peaceful. And it is certainly not finished.
But it is in the pursuit, not the attainment, of that more perfect Union that we experience something essential about what it means to be American.
And it is in our continued exercise of liberty that we honor those who, 25 years ago, stood up to those who sought to take it away.
This could also work very well with a strong historical image or a more reflective 9/11-themed image at the top.
