It's a distinction -- nationalism vs. patriotism -- worth remembering. The country, it seems, is preparing for war at a significant moment in the formation of cultural memory about Sept. 11: Private grief is beginning to ease, and politicians are increasingly comfortable with drawing larger, public lessons from 9/11. The temptation to demand nationalist sentiments from people comfortable only with patriotic ones is a recurring theme in American history, and it's a temptation greatly increased in times of war.