It seems unfathomable to me that anyone might not remember Sept. 11, 2001.

Yet even the seniors at Natchez High School today were too young to have very clear memories of what happened that day.

The oldest members of a generation that will view Sept. 11 like I viewed the assassination of John F. Kennedy — as history — are about to enter the job market.

That realization, which only hit me this week, crushed my internal clock that says Sept. 11 was something that occurred recently.

The memories are so vivid, it almost seems like my mind is playing tricks.

I, along with the young staff of my college newspaper, The Daily Mississippian, learned an important lesson in the fall of 2001 that, for me, has repeated itself time and again in life.

The worst brings out your best. It was true for us, true for Natchez and true for America.

The Ole Miss Student Media Center had scheduled the department-wide yearbook photo weeks in advance of what used to be an insignificant day.

But by the time the photographer showed up, no one felt like smiling.

At The DM, our day started early. Within an hour of the first plane hitting the towers our staff had a game plan for coverage of what we knew would be one of our country’s biggest stories ever.

Panicked drivers were forming lines at gas stations, students were making plans for a blood drive and a vigil and calls were pouring in to one of the nation’s experts on terrorism — a professor right there on the Ole Miss campus.

By nightfall, the stories were mostly written, photos taken and layout under way. But one final detail needed everyone’s full attention, the headline.

It was an international story, but we were a campus newspaper. Our story was the one unfolding in the City of Oxford, on the Ole Miss campus and in the hearts of our readers, a story of unity in trying times.

After a lengthy debate, the decision was unanimous — “One nation … Indivisible.”

I’ve since flipped through copies of The Natchez Democrat from those days. Indivisible was a key word here too.

But when I look at more recent newspaper headlines, Sept. 11 doesn’t seem so recent at all.

Bickering in Washington — the fault of both parties — a murder outside the Natchez Mall, local leaders screaming across the boardroom table, it doesn’t send an “indivisible” message for our community or our country.

The worst day of 2001 was created by outsiders. The worst days of 2011, well, those are self-generated.

Every newspaper story has two sides — the one you read in print and the one the journalists who reported it remember for a lifetime.

On Sept. 11, 2001, the story at The DM was an incredible tale of teamwork. Our staff came together to understand the story, tell it through words and photos and produce a newspaper edition of which I’m still proud today.

The lesson I learned that day has stuck with me to this day — the worst brings out your best.

Americans are in control of the current “worsts” facing our country. We are still the greatest nation in the world, and we are still indivisible.

No tragedy of the last 10 years has eclipsed the gravity of Sept. 11, 2001, and I hope nothing ever will.

But America — including all of us — would be foolish to wait for the worst to give it our best.

Julie Cooper is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or julie.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.