An Unthinkable Choice
I could share my memories of that day, but they’re probably not all that different from yours. A pleasant day turned into horror, numbness and rage with the obscene acts of a few zealots who thought that killing the fellow man by the thousands was somehow a Good Idea.
I see this picture, and it brings tears to my jaded eyes. No one can know or pretend to know what he was thinking as he chose his fate.
But, having said that, I like to think that it was the ultimate act of defiance. Faced with the flames of jihadi-wrought hell, he gave them the finger and chose to die on his terms; not theirs.
Somewhere over Pennsylvania, a group of citizens made the same decision: On our terms. Not yours.
Firefighters in New York City rushed into the wounded towers to evacuate survivors and render aid the best they could. They did not give a thought to their own personal safety; nor to the race, creed or religion of those who may be trapped inside. Their motto, “New York’s Bravest” was not braggadocio.
Do we honor those dead by punishing the people who are trying to prevent this from happening again?
Do we honor those dead by hand-wringing over the treatment of people who would do something like this again, given half a chance?
Do we honor those dead by insisting that the biggest problem facing us today is that of “health care reform?”
Do we honor those dead by engaging in petty linguistic battles wherein criticism of a black president is automatically derided as racism?
Do we honor those dead by claiming that a nation who wants to engage in genocide has a “right” to pursue nuclear energy, and hence weaponry?
Do we honor those dead by watering down the language and calling acts of terrorism “man-made disasters?”
The world fundamentally changed on 9/11/2001, and there are still people who cannot grasp the implications of what happened that day. Political correctness has emasculated us as a nation, and the only people who are brave enough to say that the emperor has no clothes are called to task and made to apologize.
Instead of ridding the world of the cancer that is Islamism, we’re trying to “understand” with “outreach” and cringing like beaten dogs every time the Islamists shriek that they’ve been insulted.
Our textbooks are being re-written to paint Islam in a favorable light, while denigrating Judaism and Christianity.
Is this how we honor those who perished on that day, and those who continue to fight and die in faraway lands that most people can’t find on a map?
For myself, I will render honors in my own admittedly weak way. I will say a prayer of thanks to those who have gone before me. I will go to work. I will love my family, and try to protect them and those who are dear to us. I will help out my neighbors who need help. I will do this not because I am coerced by our government. I will do this because it is how free and honorable people treat one another.
I will do this every day. I hope that’s enough.
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