Twenty Years Later
Today is the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks on our country. Every 9/11 anniversary is a solemn occasion, but this one is especially so.
America is still mourning the loss of 13 heroes who were killed during Joe Biden's ill-planned retreat from Afghanistan. That retreat has undermined America's credibility around the world, and the Taliban is once again in control of Afghanistan.
The events of September 11, 2001, transformed America and the world. It changed many of our lives forever. The peace of that crisp September morning, with barely a cloud in the sky, was shattered in an instant as planes slammed into the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon and the fields of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Thousands of our fellow citizens were brutally murdered that day when the radical Islamic supremacists of Al Qaeda declared war on America. Families were shattered. The nation was shaken.
The true face of radical Islam, previously hidden behind a veil of ignorance, was revealed for the whole world to see. As former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said, if the Islamofascists could have killed 300,000, instead of 3,000, they would have. And they would have rejoiced in it.
That day showed us the worst of our enemy, but it brought out the best in us. As the Twin Towers burned, hundreds of courageous police and firefighters rushed in. As smoke billowed from the nerve center of American power, military and civilian employees did whatever they could to help their injured co-workers.
As Flight 93 sped toward Washington to destroy the White House or the Capitol Building, Todd Beamer and other heroic passengers rose up and launched the first counterattack in the war against Al Qaeda.
Tens of thousands of young men and women courageously volunteered to defend their country. And in the years following 9/11, America and its allies waged two wars against despotic regimes, liberated 60 million Muslims and eventually brought Osama bin Laden to justice.
But many radical Muslims were inspired by 9/11. They rushed to join the ranks of Al Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Shabaab and the Taliban. Those enemies still remain.
Yet as the atrocity of 9/11 fades into the memory of history, the unity we felt then has greatly diminished. We are so divided now that it is hard to imagine Democrats and Republicans joining together on the steps of the Capitol Building to sing "God Bless America" as they did on 9/11.
Sadly, nearly half the country believes we have forgotten the impact of that day. In our public schools and on our college campuses (here and here), there is a lot of introspective navel gazing and worse about 9/11 and America's place in the world.
And while radical Islam wages its jihad against Western Civilization from without, the radical left wages a relentless war against Western Civilization from within, offering nothing in its place but materialism and licentiousness. Those are not values that will inspire a generation to sacrifice, that will rally a nation to victory against the medieval forces of Islamic supremacy.
This war has a long way to go – perhaps a generation or more will be needed to win this war. The day 20 years ago that we commemorate this Saturday may not be the worst day we will experience before it is over. More horror and more testing likely lie ahead before we will know whether we, the heirs of a great civilization, have inherited the courage and resolve to defend it.
In the meantime, there are things you can do.
Tell your husband, wife, children and parents that you love them. So many on 9/11 could not.
Thank a veteran or an active-duty soldier. They could really use some encouragement right now.
Forgive someone.
Remind yourself and your children why we are so blessed to be in America, and that in spite of all the lies of the left, America is still a good and decent land, the "last, best hope of earth."
Rediscover the God of Abraham, who said, "I have set before you life and death… Now choose life so that you and your children may live."
And pray that God would continue to bless the United States of America.
