There have been instances over the last several decades that we can say were momentous occasions where we make mental notes of our location and situation at the time history was being made. Many people remember where they were when hearing that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. Or where they were when President Kennedy was shot. Or where they were when they found out Elvis died. Or when John Lennon died. Or where they were when man landed on the moon, and then stepped foot on the lunar surface. Or where they were when they heard of the Space Shuttle Challenger blowing up after liftoff. Not that all of these moments can be considered momentous occasions in the life of mankind, but we remember them and the affect that they have on our lives.
I am too young to remember MLK Jr. or JFK being shot. Nor can I remember man landing on the moon, as I was not yet here on this earth. The deaths of Elvis and Lennon happened when I was young, and even looking back on them now, I do not see significance in them. I remember the Challenger blowing up. We did not have school that day due to snow, but I did not necessarily understand if this had any effect on me, or if it was just another news story.
There is one significant event in history, though, that sticks out in my mind. That is what happened on the morning of 9/11/01. I remember that work was really slow at that point, and we had mandatory furloughs that we were taking. I just happened to be off that week. I was sleeping in that day (my wife and I only had 1 child at that point, so it was easy to keep quiet in the house). When I woke up, I got on the phone and made a call to a credit card company that I had an ongoing dispute with. While I was on hold, instead of hearing the normal elevator music, I heard news. It sounded like NBC. They were talking about the World Trade Centers falling down.
I quickly turned on the television to see what was going on, and I tuned in to see the aftermath of the 2nd tower falling. I had to ask myself what was happening. Is this real? Or is it just a really bad dream? I asked my wife why she did not wake me up. Her answer was that I needed the extra sleep and she did not want to disturb me. While I appreciated the sentiment, I thought that this was worthy enough to wake me up.
Then there was news that a plane had flown into the Pentagon. Not too much later, we heard about a plane that crash landed in western Pennsylvania. We all wondered what was happening. Are we under attack? Was anything else going to be targeted that day? Who would do something this heinous and despicable? What had these Americans done to be targets of such actions?
While there was a very small minority of people at that time who came out and said that America deserved this (and were possibly even involved in this), the overwhelming majority of Americans believed that these actions were unprovoked and that whoever committed these acts must be found and brought to justice. These attacks were not against any one man or any one belief. They were attacks on the United States of America. They were cowardly attacks on innocent Americans who were going about the course of their daily lives. There was a tremendous unity of mind amongst almost all Americans that we needed to put political differences aside in order to fight a common enemy.
In the coming days and weeks we found out that these were attacks brought on by Al Qaida, which had funding and support from Osama Bin laden. The questions then came about what we can do to keep this from helping again. What steps can we take in order to keep people from perpetuating this same kind of cowardly attack on the American people again? What is the best way to keep Americans safe, especially on their own soil?
People had differing views on what is the best way to keep Americans safe, but the debate was vigorous, and the debate was good. Our government officials knew that if America could not be safe, then it would only be a matter of time before America was no longer free.
Over time, as the debate continued, fringe groups started to plant the seeds of doubt in the mind's of some Americans. How could the Bush Administration not have known that this was going to happen? Perhaps they were involved. Perhaps they were privy to the plan and decided to do nothing about it. Maybe they planted explosives in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in order to bring them down.
These ideas are preposterous. However, the longer they perpetuated these ideas, the more people started buying into these ideas. And over time, this idea that it was an 'inside job' was grown, maybe not to a majority of the American minds, but it still festers out there.
So, where are we now? How do we view the events that happened eight years ago? How do we honor the people who gave their lives on that day so that others could live? What are we doing so that these types events do not happen to us again?
First, we were attacked by Muslim extremists. We were not attacked by the Muslim religion. Rather, we were attacked by extremists who are members of that religion. It is a religion that clearly allows for this type of extremism and teaches that these actions will be rewarded in the afterlife. Today, however, by saying that these attacks were perpetuated by Muslim extremists, we are now said to be spreading hate against this 'great' religion. Well, the facts are the facts. We cannot change who attacked us. We cannot change or ignore who they were.
Second, they did not attack us because President Bush was the President. Nor did they attack the World Trade Centers in 1993 or the USS Cole because Bill Clinton was President. They attacked us because of who we were. They attacked us because we are Americans. They attacked us because we have freedom. They attacked us because we were free to worship however we please. They attacked us because they hated us for simply being Americans.
Third, we now have an administration that does not want to call this what it was: an act of terrorism. We have an administration that does not want to call our battle against these extremists a war on terror. They want to soften the language so as to show some goodwill to these extremists, as though this will help them understand that what they did was wrong. We have an administration that wants the American people to think that the real enemies are the conservatives in Congress, the insurance companies, talk radio, and Fox News. We have an administration that is more concerned about the global warming myth than they are about terrorists who are bent on destroying America. We have an administration the believes that America is the enemy, not the terrorists.
Fourth, we have lost our focus. Understandably, as we become more removed from an historic event, that event does not take the prominence that it once did. The administration is now touting 9/11 as a National Day of Service. Excuse me, but what in the world does this have to do with remembering what happened on that dreadful day? Why is the President trying to divert attention from what happened that day? I have nothing against service to others, but why choose 9/11 for this? The goal of this, in my opinion, is to remove the focus on fighting terrorists and the ideology that fuels them.
Fifth, the liberals in America are secular-progressive in their beliefs. They do not necessarily view things as right and wrong. Actions are relative in their minds. Many liberals view that what these terrorists did was justified because of America's greatness on the world scene and because of our support for the nation of Israel. They have tried to remove God from the public square and from any and all public discourse. They teach that we should be committed to the environment and community service, above all else. They teach that the government is the answer to all of our problems. In their minds, God is a figment of the imagination. Religion fills us with a false hope. Trust man, not God.
I am not saying that we should live our lives in continual fear of possible terrorism. We should continue with our lives as we always have done. However, we should be vigilant. We should be ready to stand up for America, to be proud of it, to proclaim to the world that America will not be beaten down by terrorists. We should be proud to live in the greatest country on earth, not ashamed of it. While we may not like our elected representatives and officials, we ought to be proud that we live in a country where we are free to vote for whoever we wish to vote for, without fear of intimidation and reprisal.
And on this 8th anniversary of 9/11, let us remember the words of President Abraham Lincoln when he spoke at Gettysburg:
"...we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom."
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