The blogosphere does not forget

Preventing another 9/11?

It's elementary to say this, but the most important thing is to remember:

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Glenn Reynolds has a good memorial post with pictures and links. And another one here at TCS. (And if you haven't already seen this, now is as good a time as any.)

There will be more 9/11 posts, which is a good thing. At the risk of repeating myself, well, I will repeat what I said last year, which was what I said the year before:

what really has changed my life -- for better or for worse -- is the realization that I can no longer take our precious freedom for granted. Probably I never could (and maybe I never did) but seeing those buildings come down hammered it home in a way which nothing will ever alter. Never again in my life will I spend one day taking our freedom for granted. That is how September 11 has changed me.

As an admirer of Ayn Rand for most of my life, I share her view of the American skyscraper as more than just a building. Each one is a monument to individuality, to the American "can-do" spirit, and, most of all, to freedom. The Twin Towers stood as gigantically strong, seemingly indestructible, twin pillars of freedom. I will never be able to shake that awful memory of how, in the instant these giants came crashing down, they were suddenly not strong at all, and certainly not to be taken for granted. Instead, they appeared very frail and delicate.

And now, I know that American freedom is frail and delicate. It cannot and must not ever be taken for granted.

Bad as it was to see our enemies bring down such a symbol of freedom as the World Trade Center, it was even worse to see ordinary Americans being told that it was their fault. Unbelievably, this message did not come solely from Osama bin Laden and his supporters. People here, on the left as well as the right, told us that we were to blame. Next, a chorus of voices declared that because our enemies had destroyed the Twin Towers, that we had too much freedom, and that some of it must now be taken away. That was too much for me. It has taken me some time to realize the connection, but I now see that our freedom is like the Twin Towers: seemingly strong and indestructible, but at the same time frail and delicate -- and quite mortal in the face of an evil threat.

There's more, of course....

And there needs to be more.

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posted by Eric on 09.11.04 at 09:04 AM





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» The future depends on us from INCITE
On this day, in ancient and largely forgotten history, a large and powerful nation--still young by the standards of its Western European antecedents--was delivered a devastating surprise attack from an enemy which the world had largely ignored before... [Read More]
Tracked on September 11, 2004 05:41 PM



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September 11, 2001:

Never forget. _Never forgive_. _NEVER AGAIN_.

_We are at War._

"Victory, victory at all cost, victory however hard and long the road may be, for without victory there is no survival."
-Winston Churchill



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