This is what I remember most:

It’s a thumbnail, copied from a friend’s profile and saved to my own on Facebook.  There are more images here.  Please take a few moments to review and (if you are old enough to remember) reflect upon the images.  If you are seeing them for the first time, attempt to understand.

This one is representative, but it’s not the most powerful of what emerged upon September 12, 2001 — American flags everywhere:

I remember with pride the way New Yorkers pulled together on that day and were a shining example of what the United States of America stands for.  I remember hearing how people in the Pentagon from the Secretary of Defense on down worked together to save as many people as possible.  I am proud of how quickly the passengers on Flight 93 assessed the situation and responded appropriately to prevent an even worse disaster.

I am  not proud that the F-16s who scrambled had to do so without live ammunition (there was a time in this nation when we had pilots on alert with live ammunition, and I understand we do again), but I’m even prouder that they were determined to be kamikaze pilots if necessary to save others — that’s true embodiment of Air Force Core Values of integrity, selflessness, and service before self.

I appreciate the way the world supported us in the days and hours after the attack.  We need to remember our Allies and their importance to us.

I’m thankful President George W. Bush was in office.  He and his administration didn’t get everything right, but they acted with resolve and in a manner designed to eliminate or minimize further attacks on our soil while also attempting to create an environment where terrorism as a means of achieving change in the world would not be productive.  I’m saddened there seem to be a significant number of people in the world (especially the United States) who see those efforts as wasted opportunities for spending those monies dedicated to war efforts for humanitarian efforts instead.  I don’t believe Somalia or the Horn of Africa would be any better off today if we had not gone after extremist Jihadist terrorists.  In fact, I firmly believe Afghanistan would be even worse off today than it was in 2001.  Africa as a nation would be much worse off — President Bush devoted a significant effort toward providing AIDS medication and prevention efforts to Africa.  There are ongoing efforts to eradicate malaria.  America has continued her humanitarian ways of reaching beyond her borders to better the lives of less fortunate people everywhere.

Personally, I believe the TSA was a mistake.  Using airplanes as a weapon of mass destruction was only possible because at the time, we had a policy of complete, passive, cooperation with hijackers.  That will never happen again — as the passengers of Flight 93 proved so forcefully.  We Americans are a  nimble people, able to adjust to real emergencies on the fly.  TSA has hampered security-minded American’s ability to respond to an in-flight emergency, but I will tell you even if they make us fly nude with nothing carried on, passengers would still devise weapons to assist them to overcome an attack, just as bad guys would devise a way to wreak havoc if necessary. TSA and similar moves only serve to move attacks to more vulnerable areas where precautions have not been implemented.

I have my concerns with The Patriot Act — I’m not convinced it’s entirely patriotic.  I agree with Ron Paul when he reminds us border fences can serve to keep citizens locked within our borders just as they can serve (some believe) to keep illegals from gaining access.  I happen to believe a border fence will do more harm than good.

America is in a different place today.  We’ve been challenged.  We’ve stood up to the challenge.  We are facing different challenges today, but they are an extension of what I’ve grown up fearing my entire life, summed up by Nikita Khrushchev threatening that Communism would bury us.  Many of the quotes I’ve heard attributed to him have been called into question lately, so I won’t quote anything specific to avoid semantic wars.  I do believe there was a widespread belief in Soviet circles that America’s union worker class would bring about the change to Communism.  I happen to believe our transformation to adopting more Socialistic principles is a direct result of efforts over the last century by the Progressive movement.  The changes have taken place in subtle ways much like placing a frog in cold water and gradually raising the heat until it reaches boiling.  Will we be frogs and be boiled to death?  Or will we remain an independent people, capable of achieving greatness?  I believe the latter is still possible.

Out of the ashes of 9-11, Lady Liberty prevails:

Photo credit: Janeen Shanahan

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