Twenty years ago today I boarded a van for the irritatingly long ride to work just south of San Jose, CA. The drive mentioned that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We all figured it was a private plane, with minimal real damage. Before we got to the plant, we heard the first tower fall. Got into the main meeting room just in time to see the second fall. The rest of the day was utter chaos, with rumors running rampant. A truck bomb had gone off in front of the court house in San Francisco. A truck bomb was parked on the Oakland Bridge. A freighter had detonated in the bay. A jetliner was headed directly towards our little ICBM factory. All of these were wrong, of course, but there was no denying, on the trip home that afternoon, that the sky was remarkably clear of contrails.
After World War II, the United States and its allies hunted down every accessible bastion of Nazi ideology and re-educated it from existence; today Nazis exist almost solely within the minds of crazy people. After the Cold War, the United States and its allies did *not* cleanse the world of Communism, and thus we now have commies in the classroom and fellow travelers in the White House. After 9/11, the United States did *nothing* to erase the ideology that led to 9/11. And as a result, it is growing by leaps and bounds with almost no opposition whatsoever.
On that day twenty years ago, there was opposition. It came late; three planes full of people were sacrificed on the altar of believing that hijackings were to be simply waited through. One plane, though, had passengers who learned what was going on and stood up to evil people following an evil ideology. They died on their own terms, which is the best any man can hope for.
This young lady watched “United 93” and reacts to the movie like much of the country did twenty years ago.
Never forget, never forgive. If it helps, listen to the final words of Kevin Cosgrove: