We remember. We haven't learned.

This morning I listened with a heavy heart and teary eyes to the remembrance speeches delivered by leaders and 9/11 family members. Their words and tears reminded me that as powerful as the stories of 9/11 are, the lessons we learned from those stories are the ultimate measure of this tragedy’s legacy.

On that day, 2,977 people lost their lives. They were fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters. They were also friends, classmates, colleagues, teammates and neighbors. The immensity of inhumanity and human loss is immeasurable. On that day, we also witnessed a magnitude of personal courage and national unity unlike we've seen at any other time in recent history.

The waves of “Never Forget” sentiment streaming across our screens is inspiring and heartfelt. America remembers 9/11 and all those we lost with great heartache - and we must never forget.

But did we learn from 9/11?

I’m not talking about the consequential military or security lessons. I’m neither qualified nor interested in discussing those. I am concerned, however, that as a nation we either missed – or have dismissed – the moral of the 9/11 master narrative.

Twenty years after those savage attacks on our homeland, America is more polarized than we’ve been at any point in modern history. I don’t need to elaborate on this point – we’re all well aware of the political, social, religious and cultural fault lines crisscrossing our country.

As one relative of a passenger on United Flight 93 questioned in his remembrance speech at the crash site in Shanksville, PA: Are we worthy today of the the lives lost and heroism on 9/11?

Would the heroic firefighters who raced up the smoke-filled staircases of the collapsing towers or the brave passengers on Flight 93 who rushed the hijacked flight deck to thwart the catastrophic plans of the terrorists be proud to see the state of our nation today? Are fist fights in school parking lots over student mask mandates or horned insurrectionists storming the U.S. Capitol the legacy the heroes and victims of 9/11 deserve?

Twenty years ago, 40 strangers on a plane – each I suspect with different political, religious, racial and social identities – cast aside their differences, came together and sacrificed their lives to save the lives of scores of strangers on the ground.

On that day, on that flight and at that moment, those ordinary American citizens became extraordinary American heroes. And in doing so, showed us who we can and should be as a nation. On September 11, 2001 they wrote, edited and published their version of a Story of Us.

But have we heeded the moral of their story? The sacrifice and heroism of 9/11 was too great for us to simply “never forget.” We owe it to the nearly 3,000 souls lost that day to fight for an America worthy of their sacrifice.

The next time you glance up at a jetliner crossing the blue sky, ask yourself: are you contributing to or detracting from the legacy of those we lost on that Tuesday morning 7,300 sunrises ago? Together, we can write the sequel to their Story of Us – and be an America worthy of their sacrifice and heroism.

Let’s roll!?