Posted on 09/16/2001 11:26:37 AM PDT by logos
We do not know their names, except for just a few. We do not even know their number, except that they are in the thousands. We do know some things about them.
We know that they were bankers and stockbrokers, corporation executives and insurance agents, actuaries and accountants ... but they were also janitors and maintenance workers, retail clerks and store managers, security personnel and receptionists, firemen and policemen, as well as other occupations.
We know that they were white and black, brown and red and yellow. We know that they were men and women and children, some were babies.
We know that they were Catholics and Protestants, Jews and Muslims, Buddhists and pagans, atheists and agnostics, and some were most likely of other faiths, as well.
We know that they were pilots and stewardesses and passengers, some of them were jaded New Yorkers, others were rubber-necking tourists, and there were some who probably can't be classified.
We know that they were Democrat and Republican, Independent and Reform Party members, libertarians, socialists, conservatives and liberals, and some were completely apolitical. Some voted in the last election, and some never voted in any election.
Some were civilians, some were military, and some were civilians who worked for the government.
Most importantly, we know that they were our brothers and sisters. They were Americans.
Last Tuesday, September 11, 2001, they all died ... in flames and smoke, under tons of falling rubble, and falling out of the sky. They died in the twin towers of the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and in the Pennsylvania countryside. Some even died as heroes.
And they were all our brothers and sisters. They were all Americans. They were all murdered.
Because they were our brothers and sisters, because they were Americans, because they died for no good reason, we mourn their passing. We grieve for their families and friends. We grieve for all they left behind. We grieve for our nation. We grieve for ourselves.
We did not know them, they were strangers to us all, but they were members of our national family. They were participants in the American dream, and we mourn their loss.
In losing these brothers and sisters we have lost a part of ourselves. When they were murdered ... so suddenly, so finally, so senselessly ... a part of each of us was killed with them. They are gone from this earth, and we will never be the same again.
Please join me in a moment of silent prayer, as we ask God to bring some good out of such monumental evil.
May God have mercy on the souls of our lost brothers and sisters.
May God comfort those who loved them, and those who grieve for them.
Amen.
It is impossible to understand the depth of the hatred we saw exhibited this last Tuesday, even as it played itself out in New York, in Washington, D.C., and in the Pennsylvania countryside. Even so, if we are to survive this gross insult to our American family, we must try to understand it, if only a little.
Somewhere in the backs of our minds we've known that America had its enemies. I don't think we understood the kind of enemy we have, and I'm sure we don't know why they hate us as much as they obviously do.
Nineteen young men, none of them out of their thirties, most of them in their twenties, willingly chose to die, just so they could kill as many of us as possible at the same time.
Nor was this a spur-of-the-moment act, done under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or in the throes of insanity. The mayhem and destruction that played itself out last Tuesday was planned for months, if not years. Slowly and methodically these men, and those who helped them, gathered all the materials they needed, and took the training which would allow them to operate the weapons of their choice, all the while living among us as friends.
On the appointed day they abandoned their temporary homes in our neighborhoods, and traveled to the different airports they had chosen, from which they carried out their deadly plans.
As hard as it is to believe now, they were not totally successful. At least one team of young men was unable to take over the plane they had chosen, and left the airport without getting on the plane they had chosen. Another group missed their target of first choice. The plane which crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside fell short of its intended target, thanks to the heroic efforts of a few passengers who knew they were about to die, but decided to die without making even more Americans victims.
But they were successful enough. Thousands of our brother and sister Americans are dead, and our enemies called it an act of war.
Those who hate us with such deadly purpose have declared war on America, and we must wake from our slumber and respond. We have no choice, because they have given us no choice. They have said they will continue to attack us, perhaps the next time with even more deadly weapons, killing even more of our fellow citizens, and they will continue their war against us whether we make war on them, or not.
So be it.
As I'm sure many of you have done I have spent much time in the past few days watching my television as these events have unfolded. Beginning on Tuesday, and continuing right through to today, I have heard many voices calling for, no, demanding vengeance. Many of our fellow citizens want blood for blood. We must not forget, however, that "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord."
Somehow, in some way, we must find a way to forgive these people who hate us so deeply. I know how unpopular such an idea is in our nation today, yet, the word of our God is clear. Vengeance is not ours to take. Vengeance is God's business, not ours.
Yet, what are we to do? If we overlook this heinous act, it will just be repeated, again and again. More of our people will be killed, more of our property destroyed, more reasons will be given us to mourn and grieve. Still, we must forgive our enemies.
But we are not called to tolerate their murderous acts.
Does the farmer hate the rats which make nests in his corn crib? No. They're just being the rats that they were born to be. That's what rats do. Still, the farmer doesn't allow them to continue living in his corn crib. He does whatever he has to do, as long as he has to do it, until every last rat is gone from his corn crib. And the farmer knows that, rats being rats, he cannot stop until every last rat is dead or gone. Leaving even one is the same as leaving them all.
Of course, it was not rats which took the lives of our brothers and sisters last Tuesday. It was evil. Evil is the absence of all good. Evil is evil. This evil has made its nest in our cribs, and we must be resolved to destroy this evil before it destroys us.
Our President is a man of good will, a loving man, a man who would rather smile than frown or sneer, even when confronting his enemies. Over the past few days, as I have watched him on my television, I have seen a man who has been deeply saddened by these events, a man who is grieving even as we grieve, but I have also seen a man with great resolve.
I have not seen a man who hates. I have seen a man who knows the job he has been called to do. I have seen a man who is resolved to do the job he has been given, no matter the cost, no matter the time it takes, no matter the difficulty and sacrifice.
It is his job to lead us in this war we did not ask for, and it is our job to follow him where he leads.
He has told us it will not be easy. No matter; we are as resolved as he.
He has told us it will take a long time. No matter; we are resolved.
He has told us it will have a great cost. No matter; we are resolved.
He has told us we will be called to sacrifice. We are resolved to sacrifice.
He has told us that we must not stop waging war until the last vestige of this evil among us has been eliminated. No matter; we are resolved.
Over the years here in America we have grown soft.
We will become stronger.
Lately, we have been lazy.
We will become industrious.
In our recent past we have become complacent.
Now, we care, and deeply.
Recently, we have come to call good evil, and evil good.
Now we see evil for what it is, and we will remove this evil from us, and from the world which spawned it.
We are resolved.
Amen.
Thanks for making me think. You shoulda been a pastor... ;-)
LOL! Thanks! I needed that.
Forgive me, but that reminds me of a somewhat risque story that illustrates your thought.
It seems that there were two bulls standing on a hillside, looking down into a valley full of young heifers. The young bull said "Let's run down there and have our way with one o' them heifers!"
The old bull shook his shaggy head, and said, "Nah. Let's walk down there and have our way with all of 'em."
I would far rather fight a man blinded by hatred any time, over the man who has coldly decided the world would be a better place if I were removed from it. The rash man can usually be evaded; the man who takes his time, but keeps coming, no matter what, is a different story alltogether.
If I ever cared what the ACLU thought about any topic, I care even less now. And no, I doubt very much if our former president would have called for a national day of prayer; not unless he could get all three major networks to capture it on video tape.
"In God We Trust," - so it says on our coinage. But, do we as a great nation really trust Him - and His great laws and tenets? We are told to forgive - and told to pray, "Forgive us, AS WE FORGIVE others." The implication - If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven.
It is that simple tenet that separates the merciful from the vengeance-filled, the loving from the hate-filled - the civilized from the barbarian. Protecting the fruit of our labor from the marauding rat surely requires no hatred of the rat - merely sustained and dispassionate action - making sure none remain. But, the trouble is once they are gone - sooner or later they can and do come back - if proper precautions are not taken.
Rat control is something no diligent farmer can ignore - nor is it possible for the civilized world to abandon the sole source of all that is good and all that has ensured peace, freedom and prosperity. But we have done that as a nation, and we are faced with new hordes of vermin, barbarians and thieves.
Unfortunately and obviously we have abandoned the only rat control mankind has known - and handed that responsibility over to those who would control not the rat, but the farmer - telling him, "we are here to help you - just hand over all that you labor to produce - and your freedom, we will provide security."
It is time for us to do many things, because we have more than one problem. We have the rats, the clucking, deceitful, failed rat-controllers - and the abandonment of Him in whom we supposedly trust. We have three major problems, and none can be ignored.
Our President is a man that I believe is sincere in his own trust of and reliance on God. This won't solve any of the three problems, but civilized Americans should support his efforts as he demonstrates restraint and focuses careful attention on the rats. No farmer kills his hogs, hobbles his horses, or starves his cattle to eradicate rats - he doesn't destroy his farm to eliminate a few pests - nor does he look to his chickens to do the job for him.
But, the barbarous socialists who hate God would do just that. The pacifists, and creation worshipers would do just that. The radical, unthinking and hate-filled among us would do just that. But, logos - our current President, and you - are on the right track, aimed at all three problems.
In the past few days I have seen a man lead this nation, first to acknowledge the rat problem, and then lead in a time of mourning and prayer to Him in whom we trust. Then I saw leadership in the effort to direct our eyes toward the rats - and not on the innocent, or the deluded and those who lack true wisdom. These are great steps, but we can not take our eyes off the greater problems - the barbarians and the imposters, the chickens among us who allowed the rats to infest our land, while promising protection.
We know who they are, and we should know what is required of us. Forgiveness, first of ourselves - for allowing ourselves to be so ignorant - and of the barbarians and imposters, for being bereft of the wisdom of the ages. Now comes the ultimate task - the firing of incompetent liars, the repudiation of the nanny-state socialists, the routing of sanctimonious tyrants - telling the thieves and chickens in government they will no longer be needed or abided.
We have no choice, nor can we take our eyes off any of the problems. The ‘war' we face will indeed be a long one, as we have allowed ourselves to be surrounded by the barbarous, the tyrants, the thieves and the murderous. Our only hope of survival is supplication and faith, unity and deliberate remedial action. Are we up to it? I believe this nation is, but only if each of us does our part - and none of us joins, aides or abets the barbarians, the rats, or the chickens.
Yep, we're on the same page, all right. Thanks for the affirmation, Ron.
(That's not100% true - I have spoken in church many times.)
Hope you won't mind, want to holler at a few friends who need to read your words...
I can only speak for what I've seen myself, but I would say the flag and the national anthem are more often seen in the South than anywhere else in the country.
Believe me, this one was "given to me" - if you know what I mean.
.. and when it happens, you know it too. 8^)
There have been many times. My greatest regret, I did not have the sense to sit and write it down.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.