Six years after the worst attack on American soil, Sept. 11 is still a potent and emotional memory for this nation. In the aftermath of the senseless attacks that killed 2,977 innocent people, our world has changed drastically. It seems that we as a nation have become more polarized and divided than at any other point in recent memory.

Still, I cannot help but remember how different it was just six years ago.

That day, as I sat in my dorm room with half my floor watching the death and destruction unfold before us, I remember seeing the best of human nature come through as strangers helped one another to safety and as heroic police and firefighters ran into the debris and smoke while everyone else ran to safety. I remember watching members of Congress, who had just evacuated the Capitol, stand defiantly on the building's steps and break into "God Bless America." I remember when the first reports of Flight 93 came in and I learned of the courage of passengers who refused to give in to the terrorists' demands.

Amid all the horrors of that day, I cannot help but remember that our nation responded with love and support for the victims and their families.

When it came time to deal with the men who planned and carried out the attack, we responded not with hate and vengeance, but with firm resolve and determination to rid the world of such evil.

Today, it seems as though the resolve and unity have vanished from our collective consciousness, and we are left only with the specter of Iraq and an unpopular administration clouding the memory of Sept. 11.

Why that unity was lost is difficult to pinpoint. Many will say it is the Iraq war, others argue that it was the Patriot Act and an erosion of civil liberties that caused the division, and some even believe that the single worst attack in our nation's history was an inside job.

The real problem, however, is that lost in the political rhetoric and conspiracy theories is the fact that we cannot afford to forget how it felt to watch our nation under attack. No matter your political tendencies or whether you agree with the Iraq war, it is absolutely necessary that we understand the dangers we face in the world today.

Sept. 11 does not mark the beginning of a war against Islamic extremism. In truth, Islamic radicals have been at war with the United States for more than a quarter of a century. This war was underway in 1979 with the Iranian hostage crisis. It continued with the Marine Corps barracks bombing in Beirut in 1983, at the World Trade Center in 1993, at our embassies in Africa in 1998, and in 2002 when the U.S.S. Cole was attacked off the coast of Yemen. It was not until thousands of our own citizens were killed in just one morning, however, that we realized we were at war. Our enemy knew it. We did not.

Even with the long list of attacks, it is difficult for us to view this as a war because the attacks come so far apart that it is easy to fall back into a sense of peace and security. With the exception of the two attacks on the World Trade Center, the attacks are not directed at large numbers of Americans and are carried out on foreign soil. Even now, when we finally have engaged the enemy with our military in Afghanistan and Iraq, we do not feel the country is at war in the way we did for World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Our military is voluntary. No draft exists to force those who do not wish to fight into service. Our economy is not geared toward fighting a massive war — there are no ration cards or material drives that require all of us to sacrifice. This is unlike any war our nation has ever fought.

Even so, the stakes and the consequences of defeat are no less real or dangerous than in the past. Should we fail in our fight against Islamic extremism, we will see an entire region of the world come under the totalitarian heel of a new and radical caliphate. With that, we would also be exposed to the threat of attack from a powerful and determined enemy as never before.

The terrorists' goals are clear. They aim to destroy all who do not share their beliefs, and they are determined to bring as much of the world under their control as they can. We need the resolve and determination that we had in the days and weeks following Sept.11. That is why we must remember this day and why we must never forget what is at stake in this war.

Mike Hahn ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in history and political science.