Life Goes On...

Eleven years ago this morning, I was sitting in front of my computer, having just signed out of EverQuest where I played with some friends from work.  We all worked the overnight shift, and would head home and play for a few hours.  After logging out, I went to check my email and do some light browsing.

I'm not sure why I went to the MSN Home Page, it may have just been my unchanged default at the time.  But I saw a graphic of the World Trade Center with smoke billowing out of one of the towers.  I remember thinking, "that has to be a hoax."  As I clicked through to some reporting, my sense of unreality only grew.

Then I turned on the TV and life changed.  I had grown up in an America that was invincible.  The last major attack against the US in US Territory was WWII.  Pearl Harbor day was a day I only remembered because of its proximity to my birthday.  My parents talked about being able to recall, with crystal clarity, where they were when they heard that JFK had been shot.  I now understood what they were saying.

For the next seven years, September 11th was a day of sadness and resolution.  We remembered those lost, and those who fought to make us safer; I'll never feel truly safe from this kind of attack again.  George Bush would speak with that quiet strength of his convictions.  We knew that someone who loved this country was watching, doing everything in his power to ensure this would never happen again.

Then, just over three and one half years ago, that changed.  Barack Obama, a Marxist and neo-fuedalist, someone who hated what the United States had stood for for over two centuries, and who wanted to "fundamentally transform" her came into power.  I remember that first September 11th after his inauguration almost as well as I recall the original.  Other than the original, it was the first one when I'd cried for my country.  I no longer believed that we had someone who loved this country watching to ensure a monstrosity like those attacks would never again occur.

And so it continues today.  Back in 2001, Barack Obama blamed America for the attack, and said that the primary sin of the terrorists was "a lack of empathy."  I believe that, to this day, that is still his outlook.

But life must continue.  Please, comment here about your remembrances.  Remember those who died because we failed to protect them.  Remember those who died afterwords to destroy our enemies' ability to harm us.  This will be the last post on 9-11-01 from me today.  Because to honor the memories of those who have fallen, we must also work to reinstall someone who loves this country and what she stands for to the Presidency.