United We Stood

It is late in the evening on September 11th, 2008. I committed myself earlier in the day to watching some TV programs at night on the History Channel documenting the events of September 11th, 2001. Before leaving for work, I set up my DVR to record 2 or 3 different programs that were going to be aired throughout the day, and then I scrambled to work.

I remembered to put my flag up on the front of the house before I left. I've tried to do so every September 11th since the terrorist attacks. I decided on my way through my subdivision to count how many of my neighbors remembered to do the same. I looked up and down my block, and only saw flags flying at homes that have permanent flagpoles in their yards, which number around two or three along my street. No other houses anywhere were flying flags. Not a one.

I turned a few corners and hit the main street through my subdivision. Again, I looked up and down the street as I drove, and again I only saw flags flying on homes with flagpoles. I eventually found ONE single other house that had a flag on the front of the house like mine. Only one.

The impact of what this means should be quite apparent. I was absolutely outraged.

For all the talk back in 2001 about how we "...would never forget," it's clear to me that most of us have. I have not. And I never will. But it's clear that much of this country has already forgotten what happened to it in 2001. And it is shameful.

Even the morning radio show I usually listen to in the car while driving to work seemed to have a fading memory of that fateful day. Yes, the radio hosts did bring it up and talk about it for a few minutes when the time on the clock approached the same time that the terrorists originally struck back in '01. They shared some thoughts and a few brief memories. Then they moved on to the comedy bits that had been prepared for the morning's broadcast. I remember in years past, these same radio hosts spent a good portion of the morning every subsequent September 11th reflecting on the events of 2001. They had also observed a moment of silence at the tragic moment. No such moment of silence today -- just a live ad for cell phones from a major carrier.

Now, I'm not suggesting that every September 11th for the rest of our lives that we sit and wallow in misery all day and relive the horror. Certainly, we must move on. But there's a difference between moving on and putting something completely out of our minds simply because it's too painful to revisit. Shame on all of you who have forgotten, or have chosen to shut that day out of your minds because it's too inconvenient. It happened, and while it killed nearly 3000 people and affected countless others, just because it may not have directly affected you does not mean that you have the right to ignore it. In my mind, you have a responsibility to remember it. Because if you do not, you've done a disservice to all of those who perished that day. You've dishonored them.

I read an article/blog on CNN.com today authored by an American Muslim who claims that for the last seven years, he's been fighting to reclaim his religion from those who hijacked it in 2001. He has been chastised by people both inside and outside of his religion. He's been trying to spread a message of peace among his Muslim brethren, and has been trying to spread the word to outsiders that Islam is a religion of peace. He vigorously denounces terrorism to everyone. He considers himself a peacemonger.

I guess I would almost respect the guy if: A) I actually believed him, B) what he was preaching held any merit, or C) he had not spent so much time in his article whining about how much heat he's taken for his efforts. Deep down, I want to be heartened by his message. It would be nice to believe that Islam truly was a religion of peace. But he's gonna have to do better than to tell me that the word Islam itself means "peace". Sorry, not good enough. Not when messages of hatred and intolerance for Western culture are being delivered in mosques and madrassas everywhere. And yes, that means here at home too. The wise know that there are likely countless mosques across this nation denouncing it and its "evil" ways. I have news for those folks: I'm still proud to be an infidel.

I went about my work day today, and then settled in at home to watch some of the programs about 9/11. I began to watch a recorded program that was essentially a lot of re-enactments about various personal stories that were shared by survivors. It was interesting and powerful. But I wanted especially to tune in to a program aired at 8:00 called "102 Minutes That Changed The World". This program was a collection of video and audio recordings from many different people and sources around New York, and they were assembled in such a way that they followed the events in "real" time. The show had no narration whatsoever. It was simply the events of 9/11 as viewed from real people, and viewed in real time. No re-enactments -- everything you saw and/or heard was real. I watched this program as intently as I watched 9/11 on the news the day it happened. And it had the same profound effect -- I was crying all night. It was a gut-wrenching program. Everyone should watch it.

Why? Because it puts you right in the middle of the event. You experience it as it was experienced by people on the streets and in the buildings of New York on 9/11/01. It's unbelievable how many cameras were rolling that day in different parts of the city. And you experience the events as they did. People from all walks of life, doing different things, but all brought together by one common collection of thousands of tragedies. Everyone shared the same shock, horror, confusion, and sadness.

Now I'm not suggesting that it was "fun" to watch this and put yourself in the middle of what is arguably the worst tragedy this nation has ever faced. It was anything but fun. The show was graphic, for the most part uncut, and was very real. I've often pondered what a horrific scene New York must have been that day, and have never been able to get my mind around the magnitude of it all. Even having seen this program, it's probably only a fraction of the impact of the actual event, but it still brought me to tears. One of the most disturbing things to see were the video captures of people jumping from the towers to their deaths. The other image that really hit me was when someone with a camera wandered into one of the buildings near ground zero just after the towers had collapsed. The camera panned across the deserted building's lobby (filled with dust and debris), and there was what looked like a marble planter along a wall that was smeared with streaks and smears of blood. It was apparent that people in the building trying to evacuate had been injured, and were trying to feel their way along the planter to the exit doors. They left a trail of blood smears along the way, and likely didn't even realize it. The image was disturbing. Frankly, ALL the images were disturbing.

I remember in September 2001, and the months that followed, there was such a sense of unity in this country, and everyone was on the same page regarding what should happen going forward. Even people on the streets of New York in the video were calling for war and payback for this attack on our country, only minutes after the planes first hit. There were numerous citizens clamoring for war even before the towers fell.

Here we are, seven years later. We've been at war with terrorism all that time, except that now there is no longer that same unity of purpose. That commonality amongst all Americans seen in 2001 is completely gone. So many people in this nation don't remember WHY we are at war. Those people make me extremely mad. Those people should watch this TV program for a little "refresher course" on how we ended up at war in Afghanistan and Iraq. A little time spent witnessing the events of 9/11 should help put everything back in perspective.

Peacemongering is everyone's right, and it's a noble cause in itself. But there's a time for peace, and there's a time for war. The post 9/11 world is a time for war. Peace would be nice, and peace would be wonderful. But you must understand that there will never BE peace in the world with Muslim extremism running rampant. It must be stopped. We can be as nice as possible to Muslims world wide, and they will still hate us and want to kill us. You must remember that we are infidels to them, and infidels cannot be allowed to exist in their perfect world. Infidels are not to be tolerated in Islam, and like it or not, most Americans will always be viewed as infidels in the eyes of Muslims. Western culture is not welcome in Islam -- it is an affront to it.

America, it is vital that you never forget September 11th, 2001. We must learn from it and respond to it. This is why we are at war. Put down all of your "No Blood For Oil" signs, because it only shows that you were robbed of the education that you should have gotten. Or it shows that you have chosen to forget.

This week, I cracked open a new book. It is the 9/11 Commission Report. I have wanted to read it for some time, because I want to educate myself a little more about the events of 9/11. The book is a collection of facts all about 9/11, and recommendations on how to prevent another such attack going forward. I'm only a few pages into the book at this point, but I look forward to learning more about that day. And just as importantly, I want to see what their recommendations were. I'm willing to bet at least ONE of them involves stamping out extremism wherever we can find it. That entails warfare, whether you like it or not.

Shortly after 9/11, the phrase "United We Stand" could be found on banners, T-shirts, and signs everywhere. Nearly every house in every neighborhood proudly flew American flags as a show of solidarity. It's so disappointing to me now that we're nowhere close to being united in purpose in this country. I guess the trendy signs of today should read, "United We Stood". Our days of standing united are clearly over.

Meanwhile, my flag still waves alone....