REMEMBERING 9/11 – TEN YEARS LATER by T. Edwin Perry
It seems like everyone becomes a little more “Patriotic” on September 11th trying to outdo one another with “We will Never Forget” and posting flags on their Facebook Profiles. Personally, I’m OK with that. Put out your flags, chant “USA” over and over again, shed a tear and talk about how you will never forget the Brave Men & Women who lost their lives running into the Twin Towers to help those who were trying to run out. Watch “United 93” on cable or DVD and wonder if you would have the courage to stand up to stop the terrorists who were trying to use your plane as a weapon. Salute our Military Men & Women who have sacrificed and fought to defend YOUR FREEDOMS AND LIBERTIES from those who STILL want to take them from you. This, after all, is how we Remember.
There will be television documentaries, tributes and specials galore to “Honor” this milestone. Ten years have passed since the attacks of September 11, 2001, and where do we stand? Osama bin Laden has finally been brought to justice, sent to face his Maker by the Best of the Best that our United States Military had to offer. Saddam Hussein, a known Sponsor of Terrorism, has been captured, tried and executed by the very people he once held under his tyrannical thumb for more than 30 years. The Theocratic Tyranny of the Taliban has been brought to an end in Afghanistan, and for the first time in history, the region that once harbored Osama bin Laden now has the Freedom to choose its OWN future through the expressed Will of its People. Only time will tell if any of these accomplishments will be worth the sacrifices. We take some solace in the progress that has been made, but I can’t help but wonder, with all the turmoil, strife & violence in the region, if we are really any closer to Peace, or if this is still just the beginning.
But at home, there is so much still left undone. Where the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers once stood, there is still little more than a gaping wound in the ground, a scar left untreated due to the political grandstanding and bureaucratic red tape of a Government Gone Wild, and a people who would rather cut off its own nose than offend its known enemies. We are a Nation at war with itself, essentially giving to our enemies exactly what they have always wanted from us: Fear, Doubt, and Self-Mutilation.
When the towers fell, we should have built them back exactly as they had once been, or made them BIGGER and BETTER than they had ever been before. We should have started laying a new foundation on the very same day that the last piece of rubble was removed from the site. Instead, we’ve allowed fear to impede their construction…fear that they may attack again because we have the Audacity to Rise Again.
When the towers fell, we began to question ourselves. We sacrificed our Freedom for Security, created new Departments to oversee our Protection by simply added more bureaucracy to the process, and provided nothing more than a color-coded warning system to tell us what we already knew…that our enemies wanted us dead. We began to question our neighbors, dividing us as a Nation, and doubting that we could go on.
Our Fear & Doubt have allowed us to mutilate the Freedoms and Liberties protected for us by that Sacred and Supreme Law of our Land, the Constitution. We have allowed our Government to infringe upon our freedoms of Speech and Religion, to challenge our Right to Bear Arms, and to strip us of our Right to be Secure in our Homes, in our Papers, and in our Communications. We didn’t just allow “Big Brother” into our homes: we INVITED HIM, because we were so afraid that our enemies might be next door. And, at the same time, we’ve allowed that same Government that treats its own Citizens as Criminal Suspects to IGNORE the very real danger created by people from other Countries simply walking across our borders, flouting our laws, and, in some cases, openly seeking to steal from and harm our Citizens. Meanwhile, our Federal Government criminalizes those States that are trying to defend its citizens by enforcing those laws.
I don’t personally subscribe to the Conspiracy Theories of Leftists like Michael Moore who contend that the Destruction of the Towers was a plan by the US Government to thrust us into war, or that the CIA incited the terrorism to begin with. I also don’t subscribe to the theories of the Right-Wing Extremists who claim that this is the beginning of the Biblical End Times and that we are in a “Holy War” against Islam. I believe in facts, and these are the facts:
On September 11, 2001, nineteen radicalized Muslim extremists hijacked 4 airplanes for the sole purpose of attacking the United States of America. Two airplanes were used to strike the World Trade Center, resulting in the collapse of the twin high-rise towers, one was used to strike the Pentagon, and one airplane crashed into a field in Shanksville, PA, as the result of actions taken by the passengers to take stop the plane from being used as a weapon by those hijackers. Two Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety-Eight innocent people died as a result of this attack, and more than six thousand were injured.
On that fateful day, celebrations were held around the world, particularly in the Middle East, in places like Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Saudi Arabia and even in Kuwait, the country that had drawn us into the Middle East against Iraq during the first Gulf War. A known Terrorist Organization, Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack. President George W. Bush made speeches, Congress united in support of military action in Afghanistan to “hunt down” those responsible for sponsoring the attacks, and Americans united in ways unseen since the attacks on Pearl Harbor, which drew us into World War II. We gave Blood, we donated Money, and many raced to the site of the devastation to help with the recovery.
Don’t allow ANYONE…RIGHT OR LEFT…to change the FACTS about this day. REMEMBER ALL OF IT. Don’t allow history to become “Sanitized for Your Protection.” Don’t allow yourself, your children, or your friends & neighbors to forget, and don’t just do it on the Anniversary of the attack. Remember every time someone proposes a law that infringes on your rights. Remember every time someone tells you to NOT say something that you believe in for fear of offending someone else. Remember every day that you are free to live your life as you see fit without having to ask permission from the Government. Remember every time that you pray in accordance with YOUR BELIEFS without having to be directed by the Church, Mosque or Synagogue. Remember every time you see a Fire Fighter, or a Police Officer, or a Soldier, or even just an anonymous stranger on the street. Be United as ONE NATION, just like we were in the days following the attacks.
Be True to Yourself, and We will ALWAYS REMEMBER!
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