Dear Fellow Americans,
Twenty-five years ago, on a clear September morning, the strength of America’s resolve was tested.
Nearly 3,000 innocent people were murdered. Families were shattered, and our sense of security was pierced. The terrorists sought not only to destroy buildings and take lives, but to strike at the American idea itself: a nation grounded in liberty, faith, self-government and the belief that our God-given rights cannot be taken from us.
They failed.
September 11 revealed the face of evil, but it also revealed the character of the American people. First responders and ordinary citizens ran toward danger. Strangers carried one another to safety. Communities opened their homes, churches opened their doors to the injured and those who died, and Americans stood together in grief, prayer and resolve.
In the days and months that followed, an entire generation stepped forward and said, “Here I am, Send Me.”
They came from our largest cities and smallest towns. They came from rural America, working-class neighborhoods, military families and families with no history of service. They held different beliefs and came from different backgrounds but shared one conviction: America and our way of life were worth defending.
They didn’t step forward because America is perfect. They stepped forward because America is worth defending.
For the next quarter-century, these men and women carried the burden of that promise. They deployed repeatedly to distant and dangerous places, missing birthdays, anniversaries and irreplaceable moments with their families. Some returned with visible wounds. Others carried injuries no one could see. Far too many never returned home.
Behind them stood families who also served and sacrificed. Spouses carried households through uncertain deployments. Children grew up while a parent was away. Gold and Silver Star families endured the immeasurable cost of our nation’s commitment to freedom.
As president and CEO of the Green Beret Foundation, I see both the extraordinary strength of this community and the lasting consequences of twenty-five years of war. Service doesn’t end when the uniform comes off, and neither does our responsibility to those who served.
Yet our responsibility extends beyond supporting veterans and military families. September 11 asks something of every American. It reminds us that freedom requires vigilance, citizenship requires participation, and national strength requires unity of purpose.
In the days after the attacks, Americans didn’t first ask where someone came from, how they voted or whether they worshiped exactly as they did. We recognized one another as fellow Americans. We stood together as one nation under God, convinced that evil wouldn’t have the final word.
A quarter-century later, we are in danger of remembering the attack while forgetting the national resolve that followed it.
The threats confronting America have evolved, but they haven’t disappeared. We see them in terrorism, authoritarian aggression, proxy wars, cyberattacks, disinformation and influence operations designed to weaken our institutions and turn Americans against one another.
History warns against believing distant dangers will remain distant. In 1939, many Americans hoped the turmoil spreading across Europe would never reach our shores. But evil left unchallenged didn’t remain contained.
We can’t turn a blind eye to threats gathering beyond our borders or to those seeking to fracture the country from within. This isn’t a call to live in fear. It is a call to remain vigilant, informed and united. Peace isn’t preserved by ignoring those who seek to destroy it. Freedom survives because every generation chooses to defend it.
That responsibility carries particular significance as America commemorates its 250th anniversary. For two and a half centuries, Americans have answered the battle cry of freedom. Each generation has inherited both the blessings of liberty and the obligation to preserve them.
Our rights aren’t gifts from government. They are endowed by our Creator and secured through a constitutional system entrusted to the American people. Exercising them is more than a privilege. It is a responsibility.
Not every American will be called to carry a weapon, but every American must carry a portion of the responsibility for preserving the republic.
We answer that call through the work we do, the families we raise, the communities we strengthen and the neighbors we serve. We answer it through philanthropy, public service and the peaceful exercise of our constitutional rights. We answer it by defending the rights of others and refusing to allow political disagreement to become hatred.
So many Americans surrendered all their tomorrows in the hope that our light of freedom would never be extinguished. We honor them by doing more than remembering how they died. We honor them by considering how we live.
“Never Forget” cannot be a phrase reserved for one morning each September. We must choose to remember.
Remember the nearly 3,000 souls taken from us. Remember those who ran toward danger. Remember the men and women who answered, “Send me.” Remember those who gave their lives on distant battlefields, those who returned home forever changed, and the families who carried the burden beside them.
But we must also remember what September 11 taught us about ourselves: America is strongest when its people recognize that freedom, family, faith and our fellow citizens are worth defending.
Our nation’s resolve has been tested many times, and it will be tested again. The question isn’t whether we still remember what happened on September 11. The question is whether we are prepared to live by what that day taught us.
Twenty-five years later, that choice belongs to us.
Fortiores Una,
President & CEO
Green Beret Foundation
P.S. The McKee Family Foundation is matching every gift through October 10, up to $50,000 in matching funds. If you feel moved to give in remembrance today, your gift goes twice as far.
