By Hannah Kim

Come September and America readies to again remember September 11, 2001.

9/11, as it is more commonly called, is regarded as ``The Day the World Changed" and evokes swirling images of smoke and sirens and revives memories of immense suffering and shock.

Following the terrorist attacks in 2001, 9/11 has become etched in American history as another date that will live in infamy and a day when millions of Americans convey in their respective ways the communal message: ``We Will Never Forget."

The great irony, however, and what probably very few recognize, is that September 11, 2001 was actually the United Nations International Day of Peace and the first day of the Culture of Peace Week.

In 1981, the UN General Assembly declared that the opening day of its regular session in September ``shall be officially dedicated and observed as the International Day of Peace and shall be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples" (Resolution 36/67).

And to ``further strengthen the global movement for a culture of peace" in the new millennium, the General Assembly in 1998 reaffirmed that the day should continue to be observed annually henceforth (Resolution 52/232 of June 4), as well as proclaiming 2001-2010 as the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World (Resolution 53/25 of November 10).

Coincidentally, the opening day of the General Assembly in 2001 was September 11 ― and what was to be celebrated as the International Day of Peace paradoxically marked the beginning of the Global War on Terror.

What ensued after the attacks, however, is one of the reasons that America is the country that it is today.

The 107th United States Congress immediately passed a concurrent resolution designating 9/11 as Patriot's Day (H.J. Res. 71), which was signed into Public Law 107-89 by President George W. Bush on December 18, 2001.

Every year since 2001, Americans commiserate with the families of the more than 2,098 lives lost and 6,291-plus injured and observe a moment of silence on 9/11. But the commemoration does not just merely remember the fallen.

The significance of many of these events, whether it be a patriotic rally, the Remembrance Concert, or the Patriot Walk, to name a few, has been magnified by groups such as Families of September 11, Inc. (FOS11) ``to promote awareness of the effects of terrorism and public trauma," and ``to reach out to victims of terror worldwide."

Consequently, the generous and graceful efforts of similar organizations facilitated the making of America's inaugural 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance (signed into Public Law 111-13, April 21, 2009).

In short, September 11th was a day of peace that turned into a day of terror that became a day of remembrance. In fact, as demonstrated in the recent display of the flag at half-staff in commemoration of the Korean War Veterans Armistice Day on July 27 even after almost 60 years, America cares to remember ― even if it is one soldier left behind (think Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning Saving Private Ryan). America always remembers.

This leads me to ponder about the very meaning of remembrance: Why must we remember and should we never forget?

Elie Wiesel, the preeminent survivor of the Holocaust, once notably said he devotes his life to telling the story because he feels he ``owes something to the dead. And anyone who does not remember betrays them again." But remembering is more than about the dead.

Lest we forget and history repeat ― we remember so that the future for the living will be brighter than the past. Remembering, then, is not only about the dead but also about the living.

Hence reasoned U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who with Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) first proposed back in 2004 that 9/11 should be designated a national day of service: ``September 11 should not only be a day for mourning ― it should be a day to think about our neighbors, our community and our country. We can take a tragic day in our nation's history and turn it into a force for good."

9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance is part of the more extensive Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009, championed by Senator Kennedy (D-Mass.) who sadly passed away this past Aug. 25.

Per the great statesman and his brother President John F. Kennedy's request, perhaps we can challenge ourselves and ``ask what [we] can do for our country" and our collective future on this Patriot's Day as we commemorate September 11.

I've been taught that's what peace-building is: planting a seed of love in place of hate.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was right: ``We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate, we get rid of the enemy by getting rid of the enmity." By remembering 9/11 with acts of goodness, we can stride one step closer to fostering a culture of peace that I, too, envision.

Hannah Kim is a 2009 master's graduate at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, specializing in legislative affairs. She spearheaded the passage of the ``Korean War Veterans Recognition Act, U.S. Public Law 111-41," which was signed by President Obama on July 27, 2009, 56 years to the day after the Korean War Armistice was signed in 1953. She can be reached at hkim@remember727.org.