I am convinced that if evil destroys us, it will be the evil from within, not from without.

Eight years ago, I might not have come to the same conclusions.

On Sept. 11, 2001, I like almost every other American, stood in stunned silence watching video replays of jumbo jets smashing into the World Trade Center towers.

Like most, I closed my eyes in horror as those two towers came crumbling down killing more than 2,000 people.

And like everyone I met that day, I too felt what President George W. Bush called a “quiet unyielding anger” brought about by this series of coordinated attacks by 19 Al Quaida hijackers.

The headline in this newspaper the next morning read “America Attacked.” But the America that existed on Sept. 12, 2001, was suddenly different from the day before. An America that before seemed divided by so many issues came together as one. Black, white, male, female, people from all walks of life felt a common resolve not merely to survive but to flourish in the face of such evil.

Patriotic ribbons, flags and banners adorned nearly every corner of the community. People who ordinarily passed each other on the street without a word, hugged and gave each other comfort.

We shared a common vision of an America that would rise out of the rubble at Ground Zero.

We said it would never change. Yet in the eight years that have passed, the tattered flags have been taken down, the ribbons thrown away. Our divisions have now replaced our common resolve.

America today is a country divided by race, ideology, wealth and religion.

Yet, that is not what troubles me the most about America eight years after Sept. 11, 2001.

No. What troubles me the most today is how easily those things that kept us together — civility, the rule of law, common decency to our fellow humans — have been discarded with little consideration.

A war has been declared on these basic principles of respect by greed, uncontrolled anger and self-absorption.

An abortion doctor is gunned down in front of his office by religious zealots.

Billionaire businessmen pad their pockets with million-dollar bonuses as they accept handouts from the federal government.

Shouting matches and threatening actions are used to scare elected officials in town hall meetings across the country. Any attempt at civil conversation on important issues is all but ignored.

Politicians from both sides of the aisle deliberately spread misinformation focusing on tearing down, rather than building up.

A U.S. representative shouts out in the middle of a speech to call down the President of the United States.

And for each and every one of these instances, a group of supporters stands ready to cheer these actions of incivility and illegality.

Internet boards and chat rooms across the country spew hate and anger, meant only to annihilate those offering differing opinions or ideas.

What happened to respecting one another — treating our neighbors as ourselves?

What once was a righteous anger born of a common resolve on Sept. 11, 2001 has now been replaced by an uncontrolled rage that threatens to tear our country apart at the seams.

Is that the America we envisioned eight years ago?

Ben Hillyer is the Web editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3550 or ben.hillyer@natchezdemocrat.com.