Remembering 9/11

            Sixteen years have passed since that awful nightmare. Much has happened since the day that radical Islamist terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon – and then flew a fourth plane into the ground in Pennsylvania. Yet, it seems like such a short time.

            Early in the morning on September 11, 2001, Americans awoke to devastating news. An airplane – American Airlines Flight 11 – flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. Just seventeen minutes later at 9:03 a.m. we watched a second airliner – United Airlines Flight 175 - hit the South Tower. We watched in astonishment as people leaped to their deaths from the windows of the two towers. We cheered the first responders who were rushing into the towers as quickly as others were running out of them. We were shocked and amazed at how quickly both towers fell to the ground in rubble.

            The terror continued as a third airliner – American Airlines Flight 77 - hit the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. and caused a partial collapse on the west side. A fourth airplane headed to Washington, D.C. – United Airlines Flight 93 – was flown into the ground in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers learned of the first three airplanes and fought with the hijackers.

            Investigators determined that the attacks “were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda…. The attacks killed 2,997 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage.” 

            Today, sixteen years later, first responders are paying a heavy price for their valiant courage as they battle and die from different types of cancers and respiratory problems. Last month we learned of a son who died just a few months after his father died. Both of them were first responders on 9/11. 

            The United States of America has been fighting the war on terrorism for nearly sixteen years, first in Afghanistan, then in Iraq, and now in Syria and other places in the Middle East.

Just like the brave first responders on 9/11, our military men and women show great courage as they leave their homes and families to stand between the terrorists and fight for the lives of their loved ones and the freedoms of their nation.

            What can we learn from the lessons of 9/11 - other than the fact that evil people want to destroy America and we must fight them in order to survive? I believe that the greatest lesson is that we cannot rely on tomorrow. We have today, even this moment. Let us make these minutes the best that we can. An unknown writer eloquently sums up my thoughts.

At this moment 16 years ago, millions of Americans went to bed quietly, with no thought that the next morning their world would change forever. That night hundreds packed flight bags they would not live to open. Thousands slept with loved ones for the last time. One never knows what a new day has in store.

Let us live each day to the fullest, and never miss a chance to let those dearest to us know of our love for them. So, TONIGHT, if you have someone in your life that you love, tell them!

Remembering 9/11

                Tomorrow we will commemorate the 15^th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on America by radical Islamist terrorists. On that terrible day, 2,977 innocent people were killed. September 11 is now known as Patriot Day. Patriotism was definitely shown that day. The nation turned “red, white, and blue” because American flags were flying at nearly every home and business.

                Lee Edwards at The Daily Signal reminds his readers of some of the patriot acts of that terrible day. “There was an overnight surge in military enlistments by teens and young adults often dismissed as spoiled and self-absorbed. Thousands of Americans lined up to give blood. Tens of millions of dollars in donations flowed to the American Red Cross and to the Salvation Army and other faith-based organizations. Attendance at churches, synagogues, and mosques doubled and tripled. There was a runaway sale of American flags….”

                Edwards lists “a series of radical challenges” endured by Americans and then gives them this compliment:
“Any other nation would have collapsed under such a succession of crises, but America still stands strong and resolute because it rests on what the Founding Fathers institutionalized and Alexis de Tocqueville observed – a unique mix of political and economic liberty and faith in `we the people.’ … If the people respond as they have in the past, we will have, not the divided `red’ and `blue’ America of the mass media and political junkies, but a united red, white, and blue America resting on faith and freedom.”

                I like that idea! I literally hate the fact that our nation is divided by so many colors: red and blue (politics), black and white (race), green and red (wealth), etc. Why is it so hard for so many of us to think of ourselves as Americans first? Why can’t we be simply red, white, and blue?

                Steven Bucci also of The Daily Signal discusses ten lessons that Americans should have learned over the past 15 years. These lessons would have made us a better, stronger, more unified nation instead of being more divided.

                Here are Bucci’s ten basic lessons with more details in his post. “(1) Every nation is vulnerable, and democracies are even more so…. (2) America is resilient…. (3) Terrorism is a much longer-term foe than any nation-state opponent…. (4) America must maximize both security and civil liberties…. (5) Every American must know their principles…. (6) You don’t always get to pick your foe, or when you will fight them…. (7) The `baddest’ and best military in the world (and America has it) can still have trouble defeating an asymmetric foe…. (8) America’s leaders need to lead…. (9) America’s youth is still superlative…. (10) Lastly, America is not perfect, but its people, and frankly the rest of the world, do believe it is exceptional, and expect it to act the part….”

                These are important lessons for all Americans to learn for themselves and to guide their choices for leaders. America is an exceptional country because the “experiment” of the Founding Fathers produced an outstanding Constitution and government structure. America can become the leader of free nations once again by learning these ten lessons and living the principles behind them.

Remembering 9/11

                Tomorrow is September 11, the fourteenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our nation. The attacks on the morning of September 11, 2001, “were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks” or suicide attacks targeting “symbolic United States landmarks.” 

                The weapons of choice were four passenger airliners – each of them carrying the either the name “American” or “United”.  All four of the flights originated at airports on the U.S. East Coast and were bound for California; they were each hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists.  Americans Airlines Flight 11 was crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City; within just a few minutes United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower.  Both 110-story towers collapsed within an hour and 42 minutes.  The debris and resulting fires caused “either partial or complete collapse of all other buildings in the World Trade Center complex.”

                American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, causing the Pentagon’s western side to suffer a partial collapse.  United Airlines Flight 93 was headed toward Washington, D.C., until passengers learned of the other crashes and understood they needed to take some action.  The passengers tried to take control of the airliner; they kept the hijackers from hitting their target but all people aboard the flight lost their lives in the crash into a field in Pennsylvania.

                The attacks took the lives of 2,996 people, a number that includes the 19 hijackers; the attacks also “caused at least $10 billion in property and infrastructure damage.  It was the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States”; there were 343 firefighters and 72 law enforcement officers killed in the attacks.

                Most Americans will remember the attacks and the nearly 3,000 innocent people who lost their lives in the attacks and their survivors, but others are trying to distort our memories and shift the emphasis of the event.

                Just as some sources try to convince us that the Jewish holocaust did not happen during World War II, some sources are claiming our government was behind the attacks and others are distorting the event.  Some universities are allowing “America-hating leftist professors” to “systematically” indoctrinate “hundreds of college kids across the nation” to sympathize with the terrorists.”  One “freshman-level English class taught at several major universities across the country” is called “The Literature of 9/11” and “focuses almost entirely on writings from the perspective of the Islamic terrorists.”  

                I suggest that parents and grandparents be proactive and get a jump on the liberal professors by teaching the truth about 9/11 to the rising generation   Here is a site with many images of the results of the attacks.  There are pictures of the airliners actually hitting the building, the buildings burning and collapsing, the first responders, and the three firemen raising the flag plus many other images.  You Tube has numerous videos of the attacks such as this one.  Early in our history Americans cried “Remember the Alamo”; later Americans cried “Remember Pearl Harbor.”  Americans now must cry “Remember 9/11” because we must never forget this attack on Americans!