Sept. 11 has lots of sad and horrific memories associated with it. Like many others who lived in the Northeast who lost a loved one in the Towers, Pentagon or Shanksville, Pa., our family wasn’t spared from the anguish of hearing that a close family friend who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald, in downtown New York City, was missing and presumed dead.

Almost immediately, though, our anguish as Americans turned to a resolve in working together to support each other in recovering physically and…