Taking a Stand: We can forgive, but don’t forget
I’d fallen asleep on the couch the night before in front of the television when I awoke to my wife telling me to wake up and look at what was on.
As my eyes focused, I could see smoke billowing from a large building, a building which I recognized moments later as one of the World Trade Center towers.
“I think some plane ran into the World Trade Center,” my wife said, noting she believed it may have been an accident.
“That was no accident,” I immediately retorted. “Planes don’t just run into the World Trade Center. It’s a terrorist attack.”
What followed for the next few minutes was a debate between my wife and I regarding the incident, a debate which was silenced with the stunning second impact caught right there live on television. We stood there in silence as the revelation took hold, with both towers in flames.
Like was the case for many of you, the whole scene was unreal. Then came the news of the Pentagon, prompting the question, “How many more are out there.”
Of course, as I was watching all this, my big questions were how they would rescue those folks from above the flames and how they would repair the damage so high up on the towers. I never dreamed both towers would come crashing down in minutes, killing everyone inside.
The day of Sept. 11, 2001 was a bright, clear day with a hint of fall in the air which always comes during fair week. And, something that I will always remember was the fact there were no vapor trails streaking across the vast blue sky since all air traffic was grounded that day.
The story I’ve told is one of millions to be told from that day. Just like Pearl Harbor and the day Kennedy was shot, everyone can tell you exactly where they were and exactly what they were doing when they heard the news. Even in rocking chairs at 80, folks will remember Sept. 11, 2001.
If you’re looking for a silver lining to this otherwise black cloud, it would be that the day after the attacks, the country was decked with red, white and blue everywhere, as patriotism glowed its brightest since the Gulf War. Nobody, and I mean nobody, circles the wagons like the United States of America.
The key is that we keep up this intensity, this vigilance, and not forget how we felt on Sept. 11, 2001. There are factions out there which are bent on our demise. Folks, we can’t befriend them or negotiate with them. They don’t think like us. They don’t value life or liberty. They only know death and destruction and they won’t quit until they kill every American they can.
Put simply, you don’t try to appease these folks. You hunt them like animals and put them down.
It may sound cold, but it’s self preservation. Even if we gave these folks every concession they wanted, they would find an excuse to attack again. It’s a long-term war, no way around it. Make no mistake, there’s some guy over there, dressed like an Old Testament character, praying every day that he’ll be on the one who delivers the bomb to America. The only way to stop him is to terminate him with extreme prejudice before he ever leaves his sun-baked home.
For those of you who keep saying we should try to reason with these folks and try to understand their point of view, you’re simply giving them time to reload. Look no further than Hitler’s Europe and the appeasement which simply gave the Third Reich time to seize a foothold.
We should always remember Sept. 11, 2001. Sure, you can forgive, but just be careful to never forget.
(Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)