Collegiate Times

As we experienced another anniversary of the day that changed our lives forever, I came upon a website that has forever changed mine.

The anniversary of the treacherous and shocking terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 was met yet again by memorials, vigils and prayers from all around the world. Do we still remember how we felt that day? Do we recall where we were and can we still feel how it has changed us forever? I’m sure we can all recall that day, but what is most important in my eyes is finding something good in a terrible situation instead of letting our enemies continuously keep us down.

The 9-12 Project does just that.

The 9-12 Project is a website put together by right-wing political spokespeople who took some good from an unimaginably painful day. Sept. 12, 2001, was a day filled with grieving and sadness, but also patriotism, honor and respect. The 9-12 Project compiled nine principles and 12 values that we, as Americans shaken by tragedy, lived by on the day after Sept. 11.

The website’s argument is that if we lived by these principles and values every day, our society would be in a much better place. The website’s mission statement includes a passage that caught my attention: “The 9-12 Project is designed to bring us all back to the place we were on Sept. 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States or political parties. We were united as Americans, standing together to protect the greatest nation ever created.”

I remember that day. I remember wearing red, white and blue into my sixth grade classroom on Sept. 12. I remember putting the American flag static-cling window film on our car window and I remember being so proud to be an American, despite the tragedy that struck less than 45 minutes away from my own home.

The website 912project.com does a remarkable job of pulling together the values and principles most of us honored and lived by on that day. Although some of them are religion-based and may not apply to us all in the same way, I think the nine principles and 12 values presented could greatly improve today’s society.

Of the nine principles, No. 3 has special significance to me: “I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.”

It is accompanied by the words of George Washington: “I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider to be the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” This principle is something many of us can agree is a piece of the foundation America was built upon and a principle we would benefit from returning to.

Along with the nine principles, 12 values are also given, including honesty, reverence and hope. It is my personal opinion that these are also qualities that have — in one way or another — started to wander out of our everyday lives.

I am not asking for everyone to be staunch conservatives; without left-wingers, America would not be the wonderful, diverse place that it is today. Instead, I am simply asking each of us to take just one minute to read these principles and think about our daily transactions with each other and with the government.

We would all be a little better off.

A version of this article appeared in the Sep 28 issue of the Collegiate Times.