When fanatics turned domestic jet aircraft into flying bombs to murder thousands of people — both Americans and persons from as many as 80 other nations doing business in the United States — they changed the world forever.

Whether the actual death toll resulting from the horrifying attacks September 11 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon will ever be determined is uncertain, but the deadly assaults did accomplish something about which there is no doubt.

These incomprehensible acts of cruelty rejuvenated the sense of camaraderie among Americans of all nationalities, creeds and colors, and brought to the fore a patriotism many older Americans thought young people no longer possessed.

Before the dust of the horrendous acts had cleared, people from all over America were calling their local governments to volunteer their services to aid the stricken victims in New York and Washington. They wanted to work shoulder-to-shoulder with residents in those cities to save lives.

If they couldn’t actually help dig out the millions of tons of rubble left from the collapse of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center, they opened their hearts to express their sorrow, their veins to provide blood, and their wallets and pocketbooks to aid the families of the victims.

Individuals, families, small businesses and huge corporations all had the same thought: Those who can be saved must be saved, and the survivors of those who were lost must be helped.

Thousands of New Yorkers, tears streaming from their eyes from the unbelievable spectacle they had witnessed, rushed first to find out if their families were all right. Then they rolled up their sleeves and volunteered to do whatever they could to help save neighbors, friends and loved ones from the mountains of debris that marked the site of the once proud towers.

As always, the police and firefighters were the first on the front lines, betting their lives that they could save someone else’s. But they were not the only uniformed forces that risked death to try to protect lives. Also among those who braved the fires and falling debris were Local 237 members in the School Safety Division, who helped evacuate the several elementary, high schools and colleges in proximity to the collapsing towers.

Local 237 members who serve as campus peace officers at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, only a few short blocks from what came to be called “Ground Zero,” also risked their all to assure the safety of their students and faculty members.

A total of 36 school safety agents who risked their lives to assist others were injured, some seriously, in their efforts. One, Deborah Darrisaw-Meté, who suffered a broken leg and a fractured arm in addition to the itchy eyes and numerous bruises suffered by all involved in the disaster, was credited with saving the life of a police officer.

Despite her own injuries, she braved the darkness to locate the voice of an officer pinned in the debris and pulled him out of the rubble.