I was sitting in the gymnasium of my school. I heard names being called over the loud speaker all day. Kids were being called down to the office one by one because their parents were picking them up with an unexpected early dismissal. As I sat in the gym, my young seven year old self, I couldn’t quite grasp what was going on. The teachers told us not to worry. My naïve seven year old mind told me it was just a normal day, but when I saw my dad walking through the gymnasium doors, his brash walk told me otherwise. He didn’t tell me much, other than we were on our way to pick up my brother and sister from the high school. We walked through the doors of our home, and the television my mother was watching and the discouraged look on her face, told me the truth. Our nation was under attack. September 11^th, 2001. The date that everyone can tell you just where they were when our country was under attack. The day America, and the world’s heart broke.

Now in 2016, I am a recent college graduate. Much less naïve then the seven year old girl who thought her dad was just surprising her with an early dismissal just to take her to lunch. I can’t tell you how many times our country, and the world for that matter has faced terror since that day. I can’t tell you exactly how many shootings or senseless acts of violence we have all seen being reported on our news channels. I can’t tell you how many families have had to mourn the loss of their loved ones whose lives were cut far too short because of a senseless act of violence.

When September 11 happened we were a nation that at the time was scared, but we came together, we helped each other, and we were more than ever, proud to be Americans. Now, our country is divided, confused, and hurt. People have voices that they want to be heard, and anger that they don’t know where to place. We have experienced so much as a country that could have divided us, but it ended up bringing us closer together, and now the division is something so extreme that most people have never seen something like this in their lifetime.

We need to find common ground. We need to find our empathy, and compassion for human life. We need to remember we have all lived unique lives, with unique experiences, that have brought us to our set of beliefs that we stick to so strongly. We need to look to use our voices for good, for change, and to be heard. Instead of acting on raw feelings and emotions that send the wrong messages and bring us deeper into a division we all wish didn’t exist.

I know when my grandfather fought in World War II, he left a good life behind to make sure that his family would live in a country proud to be free, united, and just PROUD to be Americans, he never in his wildest dreams could have imagined the headlines his granddaughter would read in the newspaper daily. I know he didn’t go to war, so that Americans could one day be so divided that they feel at war with each other, on their own soil. I know that most Americans can’t even pinpoint how we got to this place, of division, anger, and separation.

What I do know is, that we are all more similar then we would like to admit. I know that we all have a unique story, a voice, and a good reason to be heard. I know that if we took more time to understand each other and to listen to each other, and opened our minds, even the slightest bit, that we would be one step closer to a more united country. We need to get closer to a place of embracing the differences that we all have, that we are all so lucky to have because we live in a country that lets us be different, and we will get significantly closer to a place of healing.

I am a proud American, I just know we can do better than this.