Recently, I was listening to a radio talk show that was taking calls from listeners, and one of the callers said something that truly resonated with me. He said we need another September 12, 2001, without another 9/11. He could not have been more spot on.
“Never forget” is the motto for tragedies of September 11, 2001. For those of us old enough to remember, watching people jump over 100 stories to their death before the Twin Towers fell is something we will never forget. It’s one of those moments that cannot be forgotten.
Each year on 9/11, we honor the thousands of innocent lives lost at the hands of Islamic terrorists. Their cowardly and savage acts brought us one of the saddest days in American history.
Not long after hearing we need another 9/12 from that random caller something occurred to me. A vast majority of our younger generations have no recollection, or have been taught very little, about the pure evilness of 9/11. I watch all these young adults in their 20’s and 30’s that are causing havoc in the streets, attacking people for merely voicing their opinion and resorting to violence when their stance is challenged. The fact is these young people are ignorant to what this country was like on September 12, 2001.
Do you remember September 12? How you felt that day and all the overwhelming feelings shared by tens-of-millions of Americans? The patriotic fire inside? The drive to find out who did this? The deep hurt and sorrow for the innocent who lost their lives. But most importantly, do you remember the unity? The morning following 9/11 this whole country woke up feeling as together as I can ever remember, and that is what we so desperately need now.
I would neither wish nor want our country to ever suffer another 9/11. I want us to remember the feeling of togetherness we had on 9/12. Not the murderous acts of cowardly Islamic terrorists, but how we stood up together, united, indivisible and ready to fight evil no matter what it took.
American flags were flying everywhere. Most stores were sold out of flags and they were almost impossible to come by. In fact, the Liberty Bell may even have been ringing loud enough to cause new cracks. This country was united and we were going to be heard in our response to those radical Islamic murderers.
I recall reading numerous stories about the countless men and women who dropped everything in their lives and joined the military to fight for this country. We unleashed the American military might on our enemies and made it known — if you attack the red, white and blue there will be hell to pay.
That America stood together hand-in-hand ready to defend this country. Now, 18 years later, those feelings of unity are gone and we are fighting amongst each other on levels I’ve never witnessed. We label one another, false and factless information is intentionally spread in the news and online, and venomous hatred is spread and exhibited in our streets.
Even more saddening, the flag has somehow become a symbol of hatred to many. We’re removing statutes and covering paintings of our founding fathers. We attack police officers for just being cops. We have dangerous activist groups who want nothing more than to disrupt and remove the very democracy that has made this country great.
Today, our most dangerous enemies are no longer overseas. Our most dangerous enemy is ourselves. The enemy is wearing masks using violence and anarchy in our streets. The enemy has infiltrated the U.S. Congress putting illegals ahead of Americans while attempting to dismantle our country from within.
How do we fight against these grave threats? We need to live like it’s 9/12 again.
On that day we were ready to stand together against any evil, enemy or threat. We were not Republicans or Democrats, liberals or conservatives, black or white, straight or gay, men or women — we were all simply Americans. And that’s exactly what we have to do to defeat this internal war of divisiveness. Together we stand —divided we fall, it’s just that simple.
