September 11, 2003

On September 11th

No foreign power or combination of foreign powers could by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up from among us, it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die of suicide.

Abraham Lincoln spoke those words on January 27, 1838. He was warning his fellow countrymen of a hard fact that remains true today. Two years ago today, Islamofascists attacked the United States, murdering some 3,000 people in the hope they could tear down what we've built over the past 200+ years. They failed.

Today many Americans will look back on the events of 9/11/2001. There will be remembrances for the victims, speeches, memories, and more, all oriented on the past. There's certainly nothing wrong with that. But while it is important to remember the past, it's also important to keep in mind that the past is just that: the past. Written in concrete, we cannot change what happened on 9/11, nor what happened since. The future, however, remains a blank slate. It is on that slate that we can ensure that those who died did not do so in vain.

The Islamofascists hate us for what we are. They hate our ideals of liberal democracy and equality of opportunity. If they had their way, everything that makes us Americans would be wiped clean from the Earth. And that's where our victory will come. Rock and roll music and Barbie dolls. Baseball and jazz music. The rule of law. 280 million individuals choosing their own destiny. Hillary Clinton. (No, I don't like her politics, and I suspect I wouldn't get along with her personally. But I'd rather live in a country where she's a serious candidate for president than one where she'd have to wear a burqa and have no rights at all.) Today I'm reminded of the words of John Wayne: "We love this country…warts and all. We love what it has been…what it is now…and even more…we love what America can be. We're lucky God chose us to spend our lives here…In return for that, we should pay our dues…Let's plan our lives in such a way that America will not forget what we chipped in along our ways."

It's important we not forget what happened on September 11, 2001. It's even more important we not take our eye off the future.

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