From the ashes, America's heroes arise again

For many of us, the memory of what happened 15 years ago this morning represents a nightmare that will never go away.

For many of our children and grandchildren, though, the orchestrated terror attacks on U.S. soil are merely textbook material, duly recorded and absorbed but their impact never felt fully.

Thank goodness. We celebrate the likelihood that our nightmare will never encroach on their dreams, never bridle their quest for happiness because of the gutless acts of a handful of sick men.

It’s true that the attacks altered our way of doing things. We’ve created a Department of Homeland Security at tremendous expense and some sacrifice of convenience, for instance. Fifteen years after the illusion of our inviolability was shattered, we still must resist the urge to simply hand over some of our most basic freedoms — freedom of speech, protection from unreasonable searches and seizures, and rights of accused people in criminal cases, among them — in the mistaken belief that it will lead to a safer future.

In our view, the United States can stand tall in the aftermath of the attacks. We have rebuilt and reinforced. Proof of that is the absence of any similar assaults on our turf. Mavericks can and probably always will be able to do damage, a painful and persistent reminder that freedom is never free. But the threats are shifting. As last Sunday’s front-page story on the Idaho National Laboratory’s superb cybersecurity work reminds us, tomorrow’s dangers are more likely to be delivered by enemies on computers thousands of miles away, rather than hijacked jets and explosive vests. We’re a vigilant America, not foolproof by a long shot but no longer complacently snoozing while foes scheme.

Today provides an opportunity to teach our children well the lessons we’ve learned since Sept. 11, 2001. None is more important than this: We stand and we fall together. What the world watched 15 years ago today was much more than massive buildings crumbling and victims choosing the manner of their death, some by plunging from skyscraper heights. What the world also witnessed was the selfless actions of an astonishing array of first responders, whether highly trained or simply highly motivated, many sacrificing their lives for a higher ideal — the safety of others, even when the others were complete strangers.

As long as that spirit prevails, America is unbeatable.