I hate writing about September 11. It reminds me of things I would rather forget-- my daughter who was living in lower Manhattan at the time and couldn't get home from work, her friends who worked at Cantor-Fitzgerald who never came home at all, my nephew, working on the set of a television series in Brooklyn who watched the towers fall and wondered if his brother was in them (thankfully, he wasn't), and finally, sitting in a friend's house waiting for a phone call from her daughter who worked in the second tower. That call never came.
It's nine years later and where are we? Our military family member is doing another tour in Afghanistan, having been there before and having seen Iraq. Our National Security head refers to the events of September 11 as 'man-made catastrophes.' It hasn't yet occurred to our government that we not only need to make the border of our country secure, we need to know who is coming across it. The last two attempted terrorist attacks have been stopped due to sheer luck and incompetent terrorists. And there are probably about the same number of people in the world who hate us and wish to do us harm as there were on September 10. It's just that on September 11, we became aware of them.
I don't know how you deal with the terrorists (who seem to be Muslims) without offending in some way those Muslims who are not terrorists. I suspect that when we dealt with the Germans in World War II by bombing Dresden we might have offended Germans who did not support Hitler. However, had the Germans who did not support Hitler had the courage to remove him from office, that bombing would never had occurred. You will notice that even after the horrific events of World War II, German is a contributing member to world society. The ugly that was in their country in the 1930's and 1940's is gone (or at least not in control of the country). Meanwhile, we have set up constitutions in both Iraq and Afghanistan that recognize Sharia Law. Have we not learned anything? First of all, Sharia Law and democracy are incompatible. Second of all, do we as a free nation want to institutionalize discrimination against women. We are supporting the ugly that gave us September 11.
As I remember the many people impacted by the events of September 11--both that day and since, I need to remember the sacrifices of the people who uphold our laws, protect our freedom, and help keep us safe. The policemen and firemen who died that day and the military men and women who have served overseas since that day are our heroes. We need to remember them today and every day and be thankful for the price they pay and have paid for our freedom.
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