It’s a shame that it takes a moment of great tragedy to show the true unity that exists within our country.

Today we mark such a tragedy in the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

On Feb. 22, 1963, the moments following the president’s death, it did not matter if a person was Republican or Democrat, Catholic or Protestant, black or white. At that moment, in that terrible time of grief across the country, all that mattered was that they were Americans.

In the days following, Americans mourned together the loss of their president. It was not the passing of a president who was a Democrat; it was the passing of America’s president.

As American’s we have come together at times of great tragedy since. There were overwhelming outpourings of support for those affected by Hurricane Katrina, when churches of every denomination and communities of every size rallied supplies together to send to those along the Gulf Coast.

We saw the same response a few years earlier in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

We can all remember the palpable sense of patriotism and sense of duty that flooded over the country in response to the horrific attacks in Pennsylvania, Washington D.C. and New York.

In fact, we can remember the requests by emergency responders in New York saying they did not need any more donations at the time, because they were struggling to make room for all that was being sent.

As Americans we are all too good at fighting amongst ourselves over the littlest of things; and at times, fighting over some not-so-little things. But, when it comes to moments when we are attacked, when we are threatened and when we are hurting as a country, we come together in a way no other country is capable of doing.

As we mark the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination, let us remember that there are far more things that unite us than those that divide us.