Posted by
Fletch on Monday, September 11, 2006 1:33:46 PM
September 11, 2006.
As every American, and most of the rest of the world is well aware, today is the fifth anniversary of the World Trade Center terrorist attack. I hear a lot of people recalling where they were and what they were doing when they heard what was happening, much like what happened on November 22nd, 1963. But I often wonder if it isn't more important to think about not where we were, or what we were doing, but perhaps what we weren't doing, or thinking, or feeling at 8:45am on September 11th, 2001.
Before all the chaos, before the death and destruction... before the speeches and rhetoric and complaints and patriotic vitriole... what were you feeling then? Before you knew that the terrorists who were ignored in the 90's were at war with us even if we weren't at war with them, what were you feeling?
I can only speak for myself. That morning, I was driving my oldest daughter to kindergarten. I had a lot on my mind that day. My daughter's mom had left us to live with someone else, I had lost my job due to the stress of losing my wife, and I wasn't sure how I was going to make ends meet. On the plus side, job possibilities were looming, my daughter was enjoying school and I was slowly overcoming the heartache of loss.
At 8:45, I was an American single dad dealing with daily living and not the least bit worried about what would become so painfully clear a minute later: We were, and are, at war.
In the aftermath of that horrible day, we have taken great strides in eradicating the source of the evil that spawned 9/11. While we've accomplished a lot, and will be accomplishing more in the years ahead, the terrorists have won in one huge, glaring aspect: We are no longer blissfully ignorant of what Islamic Terrorism truly is and what it means to us on a daily basis. Take a good, hard look at your family. Look at your daily activities and see if you can identify where things have changed for you. Think about those times in the early morning hours, when you can't sleep and you can't stop thinking about how you need to protect your family.
We can't go back to more innocent times. Even if we kill every Islamic Extremist that wants to kill us, we can't go back to when we didn't care. To do so invites the next generation of 9/11-styled attackers. We have to go forward... we have to keep them on the defensive. To do otherwise is not only foolhearty, but inherently dangerous to all Americans, and even the world.
Hyperbole? Think about it.