Three years ago today, planes flew into the World Trade Center killing 2,752 people. The terrorists left a nation grieving along with the families of these men and women. We have grieved ever since.
One thing that the terrorists should have said to themselves, and didn’t, are the infamous words of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. “I fear that we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve.”
Our terrible resolve has taken us from Afghanistan to Iraq and possibly Iran and Sudan in the near future, if our president gets re-elected. Libya has laid down its arms and become one of our allies in the fight against terrorism. People are kinder to one another everywhere you go. The Iraqi people are free from tyranny and soon, will be electing their own government and carving out their own path in the world for themselves. The Taliban is no longer in power in Afghanistan. America is safer, but that doesn’t apply to the rest of the world.
There’s still a lot to do as it pertains to the war on terror. Russian passenger jets were crashed, in recent weeks, by terrorists that were funded by Al Qaeda. Suicide bombs are still going off in Israel. Trains in Madrid were blown up. Car bombs went off in Saudi Arabia and in front of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.
Until the whole world is safe and free from terrorism our work is not complete. We need to find a balance between focusing our interests on American men and woman, and on men and women around the world who need our help. With the possible exception of China, we are the strongest military power on Earth. We have a responsibility to the rest of the world to help defend them when they need us because we have that power. We have a responsibility, because that’s just the kind of people we are.
We are the go-getters. We are the people who step up to the plate and smash the ball clean out of the park. We are the movers and shakers and the people who are willing to rock the boat a little, if it will make it just that much more stable. We have a history of standing up for what’s right and fighting the mighty to defend the meek.
To do anything less than be who we are goes against our nature and is a disservice to the men and women who died three years ago today.
We should not remember their deaths when it is convenient for us, or when it is politically appropriate. We should be mindful of their sacrifice every single day and let it be reflected in every thing that we do.
