After the Sept. 11 terror attacks, I borrowed a flag that my great uncle had received for his service in the Korean War. I let it wave outside my house. At that moment, I had never felt so wholly American.

But after a while, anti-Muslim sentiments began to grow, the "we are all one" feelings started to deteriorate and the country lapsed back into its normal divisions. Disenchanted, I took my uncle's flag down.