There was a common scene all around the world in the days after 9/11 ten years ago - an outpouring of support for the grieving American people.

This, for example, was the scene in Palestine:

We are here to lay some wreaths, some flowers and to also show our sympathy in action so that the American people understand that Palestinians are not their enemy.

And there were similar scenes in Iran with a candle light vigil on the streets of Tehran - in Jordan where mothers wrote their condolences to families in New York who lost loved ones - and in Pakistan - where a massive crowd stood in solidarity with the United States.

From Iran to Saudi Arabia - from Europe to Africa - the world was united behind America - willing to help us recover - and willing to help bring those who attacked us to account in any way they could.

Even the Taliban offered up support - and pledged to hand Osama Bin Laden over if we just showed the world some evidence linking him to the attacks.

A decade later though - this is how the world is reacting to our nation on the tenth anniversary of 9/11:

USA. Freedom go to hell Democracy go to hell.

On Sunday - we remembered the nearly 3,000 victims who lost their lives in that horrific attack - with memorials in New York, Washington DC and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

It was a somber day - a day of reflection - but what was left out in the dialogue yesterday was the reality of where our nation stands now as a result of 9/11.

As in - why is it that ten years ago we were embraced by the world - yet today - we're scorned - and still under threat of terror.

Perhaps yesterday wasn't the right day to ask those questions - perhaps yesterday was a day for the victims.

But today - and each day moving forward - we need to be asking ourselves the tougher questions about how we've handled 9/11 over the last decade.

I say this because here we are - ten years later - dealing with a serious case of Islamophobia - that's caused many Americans - including some Republicans running for President - to forget what religious freedom means in America - as they deny American Muslims the right to build Mosques in their local communities.

And here we are - taking off our shoes - getting groped - and being irradiated just to board a plane.

And while we're at home - having our emails and library books inspected by the government - and our phones wiretapped without a warrant.

All actions that made billions in profits for a booming private security industry - but have done little to ACTUALLY keep us safe.

And even if they have kept us a little safer - are they worth it?

As Benjamin Franklin so eloquently wrote more than 235 years ago:

They who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Did we fall into that trap?

Here we are fighting two wars - that the National Priorities Project estimates have already cost our nation $1.2 trillion dollars over the last decade - and according to the Washington Post will likely top $3 trillion by the time they finally end...if they ever do.

The Center for American Progress examined in what ways we could have spent that money besides bombing the Middle East and killing or displacing millions of people - including over 6,000 dead American soldiers.

Turns out - with Bush's war money - we could have instead given 59 million children health insurance every year for the last ten years.

Or, we could have sent 63 million people to college for free every year for the last ten years.

Or, we could have hired 1.6 million elementary school teachers every year for the last ten years.

Any one of those alternatives would have made our nation far wealthier - and safer - than the endless wars that George W. Bush declared in the wake of 9/11 - and tragically that Barack Obama continues today.

And it's not just about the persistent US military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan that have bankrupted the nation - but also about the endless drone strikes around the world from Yemen to Somalia to Pakistan that have killed so many innocent people - and leave Muslims in the region in constant fear of death from above.

A whole new generation of Muslims are growing up now - and they have no other experience of the United States than as an occupying military force.

And even though our military has performed admirably - it's not their good deeds that are remembered - but instead those instances of brutality - be it Abu Ghraib - the Blackwater massacre in Baghdad - or the execution of ten civilians in Iraq - including five children - as described by the most recent Wikileaks release.

Thanks to George W. Bush choosing the path of war as a response to 9/11 instead of just arresting the criminals who perpetrated the crime - America is now perceived by the world as a criminal itself - rather than as the victim of a notorious crime.

Osama Bin Laden didn't just want to kill or scare as many people as possible on 9/11 - but he also said that he wanted to fundamentally change the United States.

He bet that if he attacked us in such a brazen, gruesome fashion - then we would all lose our minds - that we would be blinded by fear and scream for revenge - and shelve the Constitution and our ideals to pursue a bloody crusade against Islam.

That we would turn into the very enemy that Bin Laden had described us as all along - a nation at war with Islam both at home and abroad.

And - in that transformation bin Laden thought he would make himself more legitimate and enlist more people into his jihad.

And in the end - George W. Bush chose to do exactly what Bin Laden hoped he would do.

It's been a tough decade for us - but it's not too late to take a new path.

Sunday's anniversary - the tenth one - needs to be about more than just remembering the victims - it also needs to be about correcting the course.

After ten years - it’s time to ditch Bush’s 9/11 roadmap of destruction, and begin a genuine recovery.

That's The Big Picture.