I remember standing in the Hertz rental kiosk watching CNN. I was in Wiesbaden and Christy and kids were half a world away in Youngstown, Ohio. I signed some papers and drove over to the Jag office. By the time I arrived a crowd had gathered around the TV, fixated on a burning tower. Horrified, we gasped as the second aircraft slammed into the other tower. All of us, soldiers, knew that our lives had changed. And they did. We watched as the towers sagged and crumbled, along with our naïveté and hubris. Many things died that day, including several thousand people; innocent going about their daily duties.
We tend to focus on the physical aspect of that day, the lives lost and property destroyed. And, at some level, we should; especially the lives. Those who lost loved ones rose the next day to a world forever darker, grimmer, barer. For them September 11th will always remain a sad reminder, a day passed in mourning.
We rarely stop to consider the spiritual and moral loss to our nation. We've discarded the openness that for so long characterized our nation. We turned to baser motivations. We let fear corrode our sense of decency and welcoming nature. Now we talk of walls and limitations on speech. We turn away when jack-booted thugs stomp on others and the civil liberties that set us apart. In a sad way we dishonor those who died on that bright September day.
If we wish to truly honor the memory of those that died on that day, and all those that have perished in Afghanistan, Iraq, or other some dreary dusty alley let us reclaim and reinvigorate our commitment to the values laid out in our foundational documents. A renewed sense of basic decency will best preserve our liberties and defeat those that seek our destruction.
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