September 11, 2012

Eleven Years Ago

It was only eleven years ago that radical Islamic terrorists brought death and destruction to our nation. It's still distressing to recall the damage and death and dismay of that day. It was the first time that many of us truly understood what sort of enemies we were dealing with. That day was also a day when we started to remember how ordinary people can unite in a crisis, as the passengers of one of the hijacked airliners prevented their flight from becoming a missile, and ordinary people on the ground lined up to donate blood for victims of the attacks that they would never know.

With those thoughts in mind, we should be extremely grateful to God that another attack has not been successful, and also grateful to many who have labored for the past eleven years to prevent another attack. Their efforts have sometimes cost their lives or limbs, and required that their families go without seeing them for long periods of time. Many in our intelligence communities have also done much to safeguard our liberties, and we should be grateful to them, as well. We should remember on this day what happened eleven years ago, and determine to remember its lessons for the future.