September 11, 2001: Eleven years later

Eleven years ago today, this great nation suffered the most horrific attacks against its civilian citizens that we have ever had in our 200-plus year history. Thousands of men, women and children were lost in the attacks upon New York and at the Pentagon just outside of Washington DC that day. Thousands more of our brave citizens have been lost in the days months and years since. These cowardly attacks, done using civilian passenger planes, changed the lives of every American...and perhaps most of the people of the civilized world...forever.        Before this day, Americans believed that they were (mostly) immune to the increasing attacks of terror around the world, mostly done to kill and main (mostly) defenseless civilians for unknown reasons. Even with the incidents in New York and in Oklahoma City in the 1990s, America believed they were isolated from the terror...much like how we were seemingly isolated and "safe" from war in the late 1930s and into the 1940s as war raged across Europe. The attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, pushed America into World War II full-force, largely with our collective pants down. Only luck, resiliency and tactical errors (Japan thinking that we were beat) might have helped Americans survive that horror and ultimately help our European allies to win World War II nearly 4 years later.        Nearly 70 years later, we, as a nation was hit again, and again with our collective pants down. The differences are simple, yet very shocking. Japan attacked a major military naval base in 1941, with mostly military equipment and personnel there and used military equipment to do it. They didn't deliberately target civilians, though they could have since Honolulu was nearby.        The group of men, funded by evil men from the Middle East, who attacked America deliberately so with suicide attacks against civilian and military targets in 2001, using civilian planes to carry it out and those on board to be their shields, along with the sheer surprise and brazenness of it all. They came from different places, with the goal of breaking America down, and hoping to watch us fold and run. Like Japan, they sought to break our will, sow doubt and confusion and ultimately, total anarchy here. Both in 1941 and 2001, our enemies FAILED to cause any of this.       Why the history lesson? I do this to remind us all how important it is to remember the past, both good and bad, so that we can strive to shape our collective future as well as can be. Time can heal virtually all wounds, but we must all have the prayers and the rememberances and do the good deeds to preserve memories, and to never let them fade away. We do what we must to stay strong, but gentle....Do what you do to remember this day now known as Patriot Day, but more importantly, NEVER ever let the memories or the emotions of this day fade from you. Do this for yourselves and for the younger generation, so that this day is never forgotten. Never let the sacrifices of others be in vain. Never.