Fourteen years ago today, America’s peace of mind was shaken — forcefully.

Collectively, American paused in the wake of 9/11 and asked, “Why?”

“Why would anyone do this to us?”

Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, America had been free of meaningful attacks on our homeland since the Pearl Harbor attack that led to U.S. involvement in World War II.

The hate-filled Al Qaeda group took credit for orchestrating the 9/11 attacks that killed almost 3,000 people.

Thousands have died in the subsequent military actions seeking to hunt down and kill those responsible.

Through the war on terror, our country and its allies have unsettled things in the Middle East.

We thought Al Qaeda was bad, until the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) emerged and the true face of evil became apparent.

ISIS is responsible for bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. In addition, they are accused of taking female “unbelievers” as slaves, often raping them — many of them young girls. Reports indicate the group’s depravity is difficult to fathom.

Yet, the spread of Islamic extremism seems to grow stronger by the day.

Perhaps America was unknowingly sucked into being a contributor to the whole mess in how we reacted.

Fourteen years after 9/11, America is still embroiled militarily in the Middle East with no clear sign of that ending anytime soon.

Through Al Qaeda’s shocking initial volley, they managed to goad us into doing exactly what they wanted — fight a protracted battle on their turf.

As a result their hatred for us strengthens by the day and their ability to gather foes to be against us as well.

In another 14 years, we can only hope and pray the terror begun on 9/11 is simply something for the history books, not an ongoing, very current concern.