If you are beaten up, I have no right to forgive the attacker. But at least I understand what it means to be beaten up. What can I grasp about 9/11?
- I have no conception of what it felt like to be faced with the choice of burning to death in a jet-fuel inferno, or jumping out of a 110-story building. About 200 chose to jump.
- I have no notion of what went through the jumpers’ minds during the 10 seconds it took to hit the concrete at 120 miles per hour. Did that seem like a very short time, or a very long time?
- I have no idea of the incredible pain the relatives and friends of the victims felt, as they waited for the bodies − or parts of bodies − to be found. Many are still waiting.
- I have no understanding of the additional pain felt by victims’ families when they watched TV and saw supporters of terrorism dancing in the streets of the Middle East ‒ and even in the streets of America ‒ when they learned of the 9/11 attacks. You can’t buy the friendship of people like that. You can only rent it, on a month-to-month basis.
The attack of 9/11 was not only an act of war. It was also a horribly costly lesson. Let’s not waste it. Let’s use it to relearn what we used to know – the difference between petty anger and righteous indignation. Yes, 21 years later I am still angry about 9/11, and I will be until the terrorist network has been rooted out. Only then can I allow myself to “just get over it.”
The motto of Scotland is Nemo me impune lacessit. It is usually translated as “No one attacks me and goes unpunished.” The Scots render it informally as “Who dares meddle with me?” In the days before political correctness, we Americans used to be even more direct – as witness “The Ballad of Mike Moran.” Listen to it, and remember when America was still America.
We are forgetting who we are and where we come from. We have trouble distinguishing our friends from our enemies. We are losing our identity in a sort of national Alzheimer’s. Such people are easily reduced from citizens to subjects.
We should emulate Lady Liberty. On 9/11 she had her eyes wide open, facing the burning towers. If we hope to remain free, we must keep our eyes open as well, and face squarely the dangers that continue to confront us. The purpose of remembering 9/11 is not merely a history lesson. Like remembering the Holocaust, the purpose is never again.
Wish you were here
Author’s Note:
If these videos don’t move you, check yourself for a heartbeat.