As the country comes together to rally around the American flag, many U.S. citizens may be ignoring one of the most important lessons that has resulted from Sept. 11’s terrorist attacks.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair put it best when he said, “This is not a battle between the United States and terrorism, but between the free and democratic world and terrorism.”

He went on to promise that Britain would “stand shoulder to shoulder” with us until this evil is defeated. That’s the attitude every country, including our own, needs to take in order to defeat these terrorist groups.

Of course, we as a country must put aside our differences and come together to fight these “faceless cowards,” but we cannot fight this battle alone. An unprecedented number of countries across the globe have offered their support and we need to take advantage of that help.

Osama bin Laden and his associates targeted the United States because we are the symbol for freedom in today’s world. We are the leaders in democracy and we will need to be the leaders in this war, but just as we are not alone in our political agenda’s, we cannot be alone in our battle.

TV networks refer to this war as an “Attack on America” or “America’s New War,” but the focus of these events must reach beyond our country. The caption should read “Attack on the Free World” or “New War Against Terrorism.”

President Bush and his cabinet have done an excellent job communicating with leaders from other countries and although nearly all of them have offered their deepest sympathies, we need more.

Germany and Britain have already begun investigations to see if there are any links to bin Laden in their own country. Several other countries have offered their military help as well – now it’s time to form a strong international coalition and take this problem on with a strong backing.

We hope, by coming together to stop these terrorist attacks, world unity will survive well into the future. The U.S. may need to reconsider its isolationist stance on many issues from now on and offer support to the numerous countries that have offered support to us.

So as we sing our national anthem and wave our American flags, remember that we will need help in this long-lasting fight. Unifying a country is an amazing feat, but unifying the world would be even greater.