Nearly 3,000 innocent people went to work, boarded airplanes or reported for duty and never came home. Police officers, firefighters and other first responders ran toward danger while thousands of others desperately tried to escape it.

We promised we would never forget. That promise matters even more today.

We live in a country where American flags are often treated with contempt, antisemitism is again showing its ugly face, police officers are vilified, immigration agents are demonized and political violence and lawlessness can too easily be excused when it serves the “right” cause.

Sept. 11 should remind us what happens when hatred and extremism are allowed to flourish – and what America looks like when its people stand together against them.

For one terrible day, Americans weren’t divided into red states and blue states. We were simply Americans.

Twenty-five years later, the best tribute we can give those who died is more than lowering our flags or posting “Never Forget.”

It is remembering what we almost lost – and deciding that this country, its people and its freedoms are still worth defending.