What would those lost on 9/11 think of us now?

We said we'd never forget, but in all the ways that count, namely our divisiveness and finger-pointing, it's exactly what we've done.

Before the dust and horror even had a chance to recede on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, we resolved to be a better country.

We promised our newly dead countrymen that justice would be served and that we would endeavor to become one nation, indivisible; the epitome of "E pluribus unum."

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In their own way, the innocent Americans killed that day in New York, the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, died in defense of democracy.

We swore we would not let their loss be in vain or allow them to fade into the ether by being diverted by petty differences.

Twenty-one years ago, the threat came from elsewhere. We never dreamed that, like a horror movie, it someday would be coming from inside of our own divided house.

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We find ourselves in clear and present danger from within. Disagreements and debates, so analogous to and critical for a healthy democracy, have metastasized into what feels like incurable hatred and implacable division.

We must ask ourselves how we stumbled onto this detour after declaring we would never succumb to the kind of demagoguery and fanaticism that drove terrorists to wreak unfathomable destruction; the consequences of which still reverberate like ripples of poisoned water.

But we have failed to keep that promise. Outrage has become the coin of the realm. Political, religious and social discourse these days is not so much a vibrant conversation as a rolling bar fight.

Social media has rendered the world flat, as Thomas Friedman wrote, which has given those with a divisive agenda a reach and influence once unthinkable.

There once was a level of wrongdoing that outstripped politics. People who couldn't agree on lunch would not hesitate to stand united against serious threats to the Constitution.

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Those days have gone out with the rotary phone, supplanted by fear of the TV shouting heads, polls and The Base.

The threat of Islamic extremism, though still very plausible, has been overtaken by cornfed terrorism, embraced and nurtured online and in gatherings of the like-minded who no longer feel the need to camouflage themselves.

Self-anointed defenders of the country, lies, propaganda, hypocrisy, even violence are not wrong if it's for the right reason as they define it.

A new poll by the Economist/YouGov recently found that 43% of the people surveyed said they expected another civil war over the next decade.

If that's what it takes to protect this republic, so be it. We'll win that one, too.

One of the consistent faults of fanaticism is that it always goes too far. Had Osama bin Laden not masterminded Sept. 11, he wouldn't be sleeping with the fishes.

In St. Paul's letter to the Hebrews, he wrote that "We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses."

Are the people who died 21 years ago haunted by the America they're seeing today?

Are they frustrated, appalled and embarrassed for us at our immaturity and willful ignorance?

If they had the chance, would they share their recollections of their last moments to remind us of the fragility of life ― and freedom?

Would they shout at us to "wake up" and stop squandering the gifts and opportunities inherent with being American?

Would they express disappointment at what we've done ― and failed to do? Or would they offer us encouragement and remind us that it's not too late to make good on our promise to them to become a more perfect union?

May they pray for us.

Charita M. Goshay is a Canton Repository staff writer and member of the editorial board. Reach her at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Would the people we lost on 9/11 be disappointed in us?