It has been seven years since terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, but Osama bin Laden — the man identified as the mastermind behind the attacks — remains free, hiding somewhere in the Middle East.

America has entered two major battlefronts, fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, and thousands of young men and women have died half a world from home.

We’ve had one contentious presidential election, and we’re almost at the end of a second.

The economy has ebbed and flowed, with greater lows toward the end of these past seven years.

But in these seven years, America has seen no major terrorist attacks, despite possible threats and intelligence to suggest otherwise. Most likely there are secrets we will never know about the “what ifs” that were thwarted.

It has been seven years since Sept. 11, 2001, seven years to become complacent yet again about the threats that lie beyond our borders.

It has been seven years since America came together in those first frightened days with renewed purpose, with a sense that we, too, could become a great generation.

As we approach another election that is sliding into silliness about pigs and lipstick, we would do well to remember not only the terror of those early September days but the unity we all felt, knowing that no matter what assailed us, freedom would be safe under the American flag.