It's unfortunate this needs to be said, but some people don't believe it: No one -- no one -- has forgotten 9/11.
To this day, seven years after the most terrifying morning in recent American history, the attacks continue to be used as a political cudgel. People who disagree about matters of foreign policy are accused of "forgetting" Sept. 11, 2001 -- as if that were possible, let alone advisable.
Today, at least, let there be no doubt. We remember those who died, we mourn those we have lost, and we unite to prevent it from happening again. It would be nearly impossible to find anyone, of any political bent, who feels otherwise.
That does not mean everyone agrees on the best way to do that. But we must, at long last, stop the politicization of people's deaths at the hands of terrorists. Declining to support a specific course of action is not tantamount to surrender, no matter how loudly some people might yell that it is.
The debate over how to keep America safe is not over. President Bush, in his speech to the Republican National Convention this month, invoked 9/11 to help make his point.
"We need a president who understands the lessons of Sept. 11, 2001: that to protect America, we must stay on the offense, stop attacks before they happen, and not wait to be hit again," he said.
That was the lesson he took from 9/11, but it wasn't the same lesson everyone took. Starting wars -- staying "on offense" -- is not a universally agreed upon method of curtailing those who wish us harm. And there are many reasons to doubt this country has been on the right path all these years.
Boosters will point as evidence of our method's effectiveness to the fact that there have been no comparable attacks on American soil since that day. But they lack proof of causality -- one event following another does not mean one event was caused by another.
There are, though, effects of our actions that are verifiable. The dead from the wars we waged in response to Sept. 11 are losses the same as those who died on the day itself. Some may think those deaths were a necessary price this country paid for its safety. Maybe they're right, but it's small consolation to the families and loved ones of those who died.
As the day of the attacks recedes into history, the terror and tragedy remain fresh. No one who was alive that day will ever forget it, no matter where they were or how much the horror affected their lives. Everyone was touched by it in one way or another, and the grief and pain will never fully dissipate.
We do, however, carry on. We don't live our lives in fear. And though the issue has faded somewhat from the news -- the presidential election is focused to a large degree on economic factors -- everyone carries the knowledge that the worst could happen at any moment.
It's not an easy balancing act. Common sense tells us we're much more likely to die in a highway accident than at the hands of a terrorist, but the mind doesn't always -- or even often -- behave rationally. We worry more about tainted tomatoes than the flu, even though we know in our heads which one poses the greatest danger.
Acknowledging the fact that we're unlikely to be killed by terrorists, though, does not equate "forgetting" about life's dangers. Thousands of people simply going about the course of their day were killed for no remotely justifiable reason in New York, at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field on 9/11; no one has forgotten that, no one diminishes their loss, and no one ever will.
We also will forever pay attention to the shockingly real possibility that those who wish us harm could someday arm themselves with the most destructive weapons ever devised. If our nation has any national security policy at all, foremost among its goals must be securing all fissile material around the globe before it falls into the hands of terrorists. A terrorist with a nuclear weapon is the ultimate nightmare.
In the heat of an election season, politics will inevitably come to the forefront. But we can demand better. To those who seek our votes: Do not use our dead as political props. Do not equate their deaths with your policies.
We are all Americans. Let us acknowledge that much and deal with our differences without exploiting our grief, which is as strong today as it was seven years ago.
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