25 years ago, Americans made a collective pledge to “Never Forget.”
The terror attacks of September 11 were a landmark event in our nation’s history, and a turning point in the lives of so many of us.
It was stunning, shocking, and unbelievable.
All these years later, that’s the same reaction when I learned that Wisconsin is one of four states that recommends a 9/11 lesson from the University of Pennsylvania that is straight out of the left-wing woke Blame America playbook.
Called “Teaching Beyond September 11th,” this curriculum has just one paragraph about the actual terrorist attacks that day – and instead focuses on themes like “Right-Wing Extremism” and “Islamophobia and the Oval Office.”
Far from being out of the mainstream, these sort of themes are echoed across the country by liberal politicians and commentators who actually believe that “America deserved 9/11.”
In a different way, this too is stunning, shocking, and unbelievable.
Students today will never have the memories and pit of your gut feelings of those that lived through it. But at the very least, they shouldn’t be taught that the worst attack on America since Pearl Harbor was the fault of anyone other than terrorists who hate the freedom, prosperity, and humanity that our country stands for.
But while we need to make sure we don’t forget September 11, we also need to remember the lessons of September 12.
Growing up as the son of a Lutheran minister, I often heard my dad preach about loving your neighbor. Those words took on new meaning about two years later, when just minutes into my unit’s deployment for Operation Iraqi Freedom, we came under a missile attack.
My fellow soldiers and I hardly knew each other. We were from different places, backgrounds, and faiths, but in those moments, it didn’t matter. We were all family. We were all neighbors.
Loving your neighbor can take a lot of different forms – and it’s not always easy. But in the aftermath of September 11, when we were battered and bruised as a country, Americans came together like never before.
We volunteered. We gave blood. We prayed for each other. And we found the humanity in people we fiercely disagreed with. We were neighbors.
I framed my campaign for governor around serving each other as neighbors, and that is an ethic we emphasize across Washington County. County leaders raised more than $175,000 for the state’s 9/11 memorial with a walk across the county. We emphasize home ownership, community service, and opportunities for all to earn their own American Dream, because our communities are stronger when we lift each other up.
25 years is a long time, but for those of us who were old enough to remember, never forget still means never forget. Today, remember September 11 – the victims who died, the brave first responders, and the friends and neighbors who lost loved ones.
And then tomorrow, remember September 12, 2001, and remember what makes America great: each other. Love Your Neighbor.
