A Somber Anniversary
September 11th 2007 05:56
Like practically everyone else on the planet, I remember exactly what I was doing almost six years ago today when it happened. September 11, 2001 dawned typically bright and sunny in South Florida, as I awoke at my usual 6:30 a.m. hour. Though my position as a recruiter for a large national bank didn’t require my presence at the office until 8:30 a.m., I always left early, so I could enjoy the scenic route (instead of the perpetually snarled Interstate 95) from my home in Boynton Beach to my office in downtown Boca Raton. As I drove down A1A along the coast – quite possibly the most beautiful road in America – I drank in the magnificence of a rising orange sun over crystal blue water, the lushness of verdant foliage and vivid tropical flowers, and the graceful sway of ubiquitous palm trees.
Normally I listened to motivational CD’s during my 45-minute trek, but for some reason on this particular morning, I chose to leave on 97.9, WRMF, a local pop music station. At the time, they had a good morning show team consisting of two guys and a girl with a spontaneous chemistry reminiscent of Fox and Friends, when E.D. Hill was still a part of the line-up (with all due respect to Gretchen Carlson, the show just isn’t the same since E.D. left).
Anyway, the usual merriment was disrupted by breaking news about an airplane hitting one of the World Trade Center towers. With very little known at that point, the morning team speculated that it could have been a private plane that had either veered off course or run into engine problems. Since the weather in New York was also clear, the latter seemed a more likely scenario. As I slammed my door shut and entered the bank building, I remember hoping that no one inside the impacted tower or on the plane had been seriously injured or killed. It sure seemed odd, though, that the pilot would not have done everything in his power to avoid the skyscraper, even if there was no chance of preventing a crash.
Since my recruiting assistant had taken the morning off, I was left alone to administer Teller assessments to the group of 11 or so hopefuls who were already waiting for me outside of the lobby. Once set up in our conference center, I headed into my office to call hiring managers, check online applications and basically get started on what I thought would be another routine day at the office.
Then suddenly, Leah, an administrative assistant who frequently popped downstairs to say hello, hysterically rushed into the HR office with the breathless announcement that another plane had struck the second tower. My heart lurched in my chest as the realization sunk in that this was no accident, but some sort of coordinated and sinister plan of attack, though neither of us could fathom the absolute evil with which we would soon become all too familiar. Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, militant Islam and terrorism were about to invade the vernacular and usher in a new age of the ideological war where there were no borders, no uniformed soldiers representing a country and no rules of engagement. Rather than attack Military installations, this cowardly enemy had chosen to unleash its wrath upon innocent, unsuspecting civilians as they rode on airplanes or toiled at their desks.
Without a television, I relied upon information gleaned from various employees, who upon hearing about the subsequent assault on the Pentagon, the collapse of the World Trade Center and the horrific crash of United Flight 93, would run around the building, announcing the latest chilling milestone in this never-ending nightmare. And when we heard that the government had grounded all flights, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that we were at war. But with who?
Six years later, the war with Muslim extremists rages on. And to this day, whenever I watch the video of American jetliners slamming into the Twin Towers, it’s as if I am seeing it for the very first time. The shock, anger and sorrow are as acute now as they were on the morning that changed everything. It still takes my breath away -- the grotesque sound of impact, the surrealism of each tower’s horrific implosion, the haunting desperation of human beings choosing to jump 80 stories to their deaths rather than perish in a raging inferno of jet-fuel, and yes -- the repugnant sight of Palestinians celebrating and dancing in the streets in reaction to the Great Satan’s “comeuppance.”
Then as now, whenever I try to fathom the scope of the unadulterated evil that consumes the heart, mind and soul of a radical Islamic terrorist, it sends shivers up and down my spine. While intellectually I understand the source of their motivation – the teachings of the Koran that command them to rid the world of “infidels” and impose a global Muslim caliphate – the sheer brutality of these killers and the cold, calculated focus with which they plan one diabolical scheme after another never fail to astonish me. If Christians and others question the real Satan’s existence, Islamo-fascists seem to make a pretty clear-cut case for it.
In the aftermath of 9/11, patriotism made a short-lived, but welcome return. America and the free world united against a common enemy, while politicians set aside their differences and came to the realization that, Republican or Democrat, we were all targets of a relentless ideology of hatred – a force that had to be reckoned with, for the sake of mankind and the survival of western civilization. Well, that was then, this is now.
Today I watched as General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker reported on the success of the Military surge in Iraq. I witnessed the utter contempt with which some members of Congress addressed these heroic men who are working tirelessly for the freedom of Iraqis and the security of the United States (including my own Congressman Robert Wexler, an absolute disgrace to his office). Having long ago sacrificed their own country on the altar of political expediency, Democrats collectively held their ears and metaphorically chanted “I can’t hear you!” All that was missing were the lollipops.
Six years after the worst attack on American soil, one political party is actively courting defeat and willing their country to lose. The “kooky anti-war left fringe” has now become the aggressive, money-wielding base of the Democratic Party and they’ve made their objectives quite clear: Democratic representatives will march in lock-step or their days on Capitol Hill are numbered. And lest any of them forget, their overlords at MoveOn.org took out a full-page ad in The New York Times accusing Five-Star General David Petraeus – a man unanimously approved by the Senate to manage the surge – of betrayal before the man had even uttered one word of testimony. Tellingly, not one Democrat, with the exception of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, issued a statement condemning the ad. Useful idiots.
As we celebrate the heroes of September 11, let us also remember that freedom is worth fighting for. That despite Hollywood’s best efforts to smear them, American forces believe in their mission and continue to serve their country honorably, alongside their Allied counterparts. Let us not fail to remember that global jihad never rests, and certainly makes no distinction between liberal and conservative, Democrat and Republican. We are all infidels. And if we wish to preserve western civilization for ourselves and for future generations, then this evil must be confronted and destroyed. We owe at least that much to all of the men and women whose memory we honor today.
.
Normally I listened to motivational CD’s during my 45-minute trek, but for some reason on this particular morning, I chose to leave on 97.9, WRMF, a local pop music station. At the time, they had a good morning show team consisting of two guys and a girl with a spontaneous chemistry reminiscent of Fox and Friends, when E.D. Hill was still a part of the line-up (with all due respect to Gretchen Carlson, the show just isn’t the same since E.D. left).
Anyway, the usual merriment was disrupted by breaking news about an airplane hitting one of the World Trade Center towers. With very little known at that point, the morning team speculated that it could have been a private plane that had either veered off course or run into engine problems. Since the weather in New York was also clear, the latter seemed a more likely scenario. As I slammed my door shut and entered the bank building, I remember hoping that no one inside the impacted tower or on the plane had been seriously injured or killed. It sure seemed odd, though, that the pilot would not have done everything in his power to avoid the skyscraper, even if there was no chance of preventing a crash.
Since my recruiting assistant had taken the morning off, I was left alone to administer Teller assessments to the group of 11 or so hopefuls who were already waiting for me outside of the lobby. Once set up in our conference center, I headed into my office to call hiring managers, check online applications and basically get started on what I thought would be another routine day at the office.
Then suddenly, Leah, an administrative assistant who frequently popped downstairs to say hello, hysterically rushed into the HR office with the breathless announcement that another plane had struck the second tower. My heart lurched in my chest as the realization sunk in that this was no accident, but some sort of coordinated and sinister plan of attack, though neither of us could fathom the absolute evil with which we would soon become all too familiar. Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, militant Islam and terrorism were about to invade the vernacular and usher in a new age of the ideological war where there were no borders, no uniformed soldiers representing a country and no rules of engagement. Rather than attack Military installations, this cowardly enemy had chosen to unleash its wrath upon innocent, unsuspecting civilians as they rode on airplanes or toiled at their desks.
Without a television, I relied upon information gleaned from various employees, who upon hearing about the subsequent assault on the Pentagon, the collapse of the World Trade Center and the horrific crash of United Flight 93, would run around the building, announcing the latest chilling milestone in this never-ending nightmare. And when we heard that the government had grounded all flights, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that we were at war. But with who?
Six years later, the war with Muslim extremists rages on. And to this day, whenever I watch the video of American jetliners slamming into the Twin Towers, it’s as if I am seeing it for the very first time. The shock, anger and sorrow are as acute now as they were on the morning that changed everything. It still takes my breath away -- the grotesque sound of impact, the surrealism of each tower’s horrific implosion, the haunting desperation of human beings choosing to jump 80 stories to their deaths rather than perish in a raging inferno of jet-fuel, and yes -- the repugnant sight of Palestinians celebrating and dancing in the streets in reaction to the Great Satan’s “comeuppance.”
Then as now, whenever I try to fathom the scope of the unadulterated evil that consumes the heart, mind and soul of a radical Islamic terrorist, it sends shivers up and down my spine. While intellectually I understand the source of their motivation – the teachings of the Koran that command them to rid the world of “infidels” and impose a global Muslim caliphate – the sheer brutality of these killers and the cold, calculated focus with which they plan one diabolical scheme after another never fail to astonish me. If Christians and others question the real Satan’s existence, Islamo-fascists seem to make a pretty clear-cut case for it.
In the aftermath of 9/11, patriotism made a short-lived, but welcome return. America and the free world united against a common enemy, while politicians set aside their differences and came to the realization that, Republican or Democrat, we were all targets of a relentless ideology of hatred – a force that had to be reckoned with, for the sake of mankind and the survival of western civilization. Well, that was then, this is now.
Today I watched as General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker reported on the success of the Military surge in Iraq. I witnessed the utter contempt with which some members of Congress addressed these heroic men who are working tirelessly for the freedom of Iraqis and the security of the United States (including my own Congressman Robert Wexler, an absolute disgrace to his office). Having long ago sacrificed their own country on the altar of political expediency, Democrats collectively held their ears and metaphorically chanted “I can’t hear you!” All that was missing were the lollipops.
Six years after the worst attack on American soil, one political party is actively courting defeat and willing their country to lose. The “kooky anti-war left fringe” has now become the aggressive, money-wielding base of the Democratic Party and they’ve made their objectives quite clear: Democratic representatives will march in lock-step or their days on Capitol Hill are numbered. And lest any of them forget, their overlords at MoveOn.org took out a full-page ad in The New York Times accusing Five-Star General David Petraeus – a man unanimously approved by the Senate to manage the surge – of betrayal before the man had even uttered one word of testimony. Tellingly, not one Democrat, with the exception of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, issued a statement condemning the ad. Useful idiots.
As we celebrate the heroes of September 11, let us also remember that freedom is worth fighting for. That despite Hollywood’s best efforts to smear them, American forces believe in their mission and continue to serve their country honorably, alongside their Allied counterparts. Let us not fail to remember that global jihad never rests, and certainly makes no distinction between liberal and conservative, Democrat and Republican. We are all infidels. And if we wish to preserve western civilization for ourselves and for future generations, then this evil must be confronted and destroyed. We owe at least that much to all of the men and women whose memory we honor today.
.
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