9-11 Revisited

Three years ago, almost to the day, the United States of America was attacked by terrorists – terrorists who care nothing about human life and freedom.

I was invited to speak the other evening to the men and women of the Marine Corps Club of Stockton. These are former Marines who have seen more than their share of war; many are veterans of World War Two, as well as Korea and Vietnam. Several of the WWII Marines made the island landing on Iwo Jima, February 1945. The cost in human life was six thousand Marines just to secure the beach in those first four days. Only then could they begin the slow process of routing out the entrenched Japanese soldiers who were sworn to die defending the island.

This, too, was a war brought upon us that was not of our choosing. Americans are a peaceful people. Historically, we have leaned toward being isolationistic – that is to say, we’re content to live and let live. This has been seen as weakness by those who have attempted to strike at us. Usually, we are stunned that anyone would want to harm us when we haven’t done anything to others. Our wealth as a nation is shared throughout the world. Let any devastation take place outside of the U.S. and we’re there to offer assistance with food, clothing and lodging, along with medical aid. Funny, I don’t seem to recall any countries offering to assist us when we’ve been hit with hurricanes, earthquakes, or any other natural disasters. Nor would we ask for help. We have learned to take care of ourselves.

Woe to those who mistakenly believe we are weak, and therefore, an easy target for their terror. It’s true that we are an easy target. The reason for this, is that we are a free and open society. We like it that way. We don’t have guards searching people entering and leaving our cities and states. As a response to 9-11, we have, rightly so, placed security guards in our airports. I travel quite a bit and welcome the time needed to process through the security lines. Of course, I would prefer that we did not need this inconvenience, but the terrorists brought this on us.

It’s important to remember that we have not been attacked on U.S. soil again since 9-11. I suspect that our Homeland Security is working far better than the media would lead us to believe. There is not one freedom-loving American who would ever want to see us attacked again. So, those serving in the FBI, CIA, and other agencies are diligently working to prevent any such future attack. We’ll probably never know of the attempts to harm us that were thwarted because of the hard work performed by these patriots on our behalf.

In an attempt to keep the wolf from the door, the men and women of our armed forces and Homeland security are standing in the gap. They’re proud to do so.

Think about it – has your life really been affected by 9-11? This Saturday, take a few minutes to pray and thank God for those who are willing to keep us safe, allowing you and me to continue to live our lives in freedom.

Make no mistake – we will win this war on terrorism.