9 Years Hence

There are millions of people who are writing about their thoughts 9 years ago right now. I was getting up getting ready for work. My sister in law called and said a plane had collided with one of the towers of the World Trade Center. My first thought was it was probably a small private plane, maybe it was cloudy or something in New York and he was disoriented. I never thought it was a commercial airliner.

Turning on the TV it became immediately evident that this was not an accident. A few moments later another plane hit the other tower. I was shaken, dismayed and shocked. Watching for a few moments more I knew I needed to head to the office. Then I heard about the Pentagon. Later in the morning the news came of the collapse of the towers. Even this early in the event there were people saying that the collapse could never happen from just two airliners hitting the buildings, there must be something more to this. Then there was word of a plane crash in Pennsylvania.

This date is now known as Patriot Day I suppose. I cannot imagination the pain that goes on in the families of the dead. My father in law's cousin's wife and her daughter were on one of those planes that hit the WTC. Suddenly I knew that there would be very few people who would not be touched personally having lost a family member or a friend.

The nation was now plunged into a hunt for those responsible. We are still at it 9 years later, partly because of our tenacity and partly because of our rules of engagement in war. The sad part of all this is I don't know if anything will really come from all of it. I don't think democracies can stand for very long in Dar-al-Islam, the land of Islam. By it's very nature that ideology almost requires an authoritarian regime if not a totalitarian order. I wish it were not so but the tenets of the ideology almost demand it; plus the people are culturally accustomed to it. So we'll see how the sacrifice of all of our servicemen and servicewomen pans out. I am not optimistic, but I am hopeful that Americans will rise up to a degree to protect our unique way of life.