Reading the timeline each year is a sobering experience, but it doesn’t matter what time of year I look at the images from that day. Considering the current political climate, I look at them regularly. The images continue to haunt me and they always will.
There were 2996 immediate deaths on September 11th, 2001. There were people who cheered that day, celebrating an attack on America. Even now, I see members of our government trivialize the events of that day, desecrating the dead with their comments. Eighteen years have gone by and America forgets its dead.
Regardless of which way the political winds blow, I remain a patriot. But in a greater sense, I will also always honor those who stood with us on that day. After all, there were victims from 90 countries. A sick ideology attacked the world.
The crisis remains. Victims and rescuers alike suffer life threatening medical conditions due to the exposure to toxins during the attacks and continue to succumb to these lingering wounds. As a country, we must stand by them.
And then, there’s the war that has yet to end. In the ensuing 18 years we’ve definitely taken the fight to the enemy and even cut their head off a time or two. The names change, but they remain enemies of freedom. We must secure our future.
Even now, the world is faced with the continued threat of Islamic fundamentalism that targets our ideals in both word and deed. We must oppose them in every case, lest our efforts thus far, be in vain.
Never Forgive, Never Forget
