Nine years ago, 19 al-Qaeda operatives hijacked four U.S. airliners, orchestrating the deadliest terrorist attack ever perpetrated on American soil.

A total of 2,977 people lost their lives that day, including 343 firefighters, 60 police officers, and nationals from 70 different countries. The events of that day, as well as their repercussions, have come to define the world as we know it.

The events of the day — and the political and military actions they spawned — can often overshadow the sacrifices made and lives impacted in the wake of the chaos. The consequences of the day are more tangible than the reality, and nine years later, our memorials are still under construction.

However horrific or violent its agenda may be, al-Qaeda must be stopped, along with all other forms of terrorism. Intolerance, prejudice and inequity may perpetuate the problem, but they are still no excuse for murdering civilians.

Some have called 9/11 the Pearl Harbor of our generation. Say what you will about the motives and actions of the Japanese; they attacked a military target, with military weaponry. Attacking civilian targets using occupied civilian aircraft is beyond appalling. This new type of attack was something we were completely unprepared for and rang in an unmitigated tragedy.

Terrorism solves nothing. If anything, 9/11 only served to widen the rift between Islam and the western world: people who couldn’t spell “mosque” 10 years ago now form opinions on the proposed locations of those thousands of miles away, and hate crimes against anyone resembling Arabic descent have skyrocketed.

Equally disgusting is the wanton disregard with which 9/11 has been politicized. Some used the events of the day as album fodder, while others appeal to the sentiment and nostalgia for far less altruistic reasons. We’re talking to you Rudy Giuliani — bringing it up every five minutes is tacky.

Then there are the folks who decide to “commemorate” the day with self-serving publicity stunts. We’re glad Rev. Terry Jones canceled his Quran-burning plans, what, with the universal condemnation from, well, everyone? It’s a shame he wasn’t able to stifle his stupidity before the protesting in Afghanistan cost two people their lives, but we’re hopeful the deaths stop there.

So what are we to understand from this? What message are we to take from this tragedy as we look back on it? It should be our goal, as a culture, as a country, and as a world to learn from things like the tragedy on Sept. 11 nine years ago. The attack on our country was a product of ignorance. This ignorance caused a blind, zealous hatred so intense that it caused a few misguided men to think that killing nearly 3,000 people was the right thing to do. It is this ignorance and intolerance that should be the enemy that 9/11 revealed. This is our true enemy. This is what we should be fighting, and this is what should be remembered.

Using 9/11 as a means to divide folks is contrary to the actions and heroism displayed in the following weeks and months. It shouldn’t be a call to war, a recruiting tool, a political grandstanding issue or an entrepreneurial endeavor.

9/11 should serve as a day of reverence — a day that supersedes prejudice and politics and pays respect to the lives shattered by the atrocities of extremism. Nothing more, nothing less.