Leslie, many young people felt as you did, we have gone through mostly good times since world war 2 except for the Vietnam war which divided people in this country. Some thought it was the right thing to do, others did not.
Many of the boys coming home from Vietnam were spit upon for trying to do what they felt was right for their country. It was very demoralizing. I believe people got caught up in their own lives and our country somewhat got put on the back burner. This horrible thing that has happened makes one realize how important our loved ones are to us and how much we really do love the United States of America. Those terrorists did not accomplish their goal of dividing the country they made us realize how much we do love this country and that we will all come together to help our injured, mourn our dead, rebuild our country and bring those horrible people to justice.