9/11 FIVE YEARS AND NEVER FORGOTTEN

Most of us throughout this day as I am sure we do and have done for many days since that fateful morning five years ago are reflecting on our feelings, our thoughts, our sorrow and anger remembering where we were and what we were doing as The United States was attacked on September 11, 2001. The television and radio through video and audio air reminders of the events of that day. Channels throughout the dial have been playing documentaries and dramatazations of the day America was attacked with eyewitness accounts of the anquish, tragedy and heroism of a day we will never forget. Yet while we view these accounts and listen to the witnesses as these programs are aired which I beleive is good in our collective rememberance, none of us need be reminded nor shown visuals of this day because all of us have forever implanted in the visuals of our memories the horror of the planes hitting the towers, the collapse of the Pentagon and the smoldering of all that was left of Flight 93. We have vivid and chilling thoughts of people rushing through the streets of New York regardless of race or creed united in fear and confusion as the buildings collapsed and because of the dust all were of one color, everyone looked the same and for a brief time thereafter everyone was the same. We all stood united as American's in grief, anger and patriotism against an enemy who then was faceless to most of us and who now has become a part of our daily lives. We stood for the days and weeks after waving flags and demanding vengence while we dealt with our grief and looked for an avenue for our anger. We proudly stood and identified with those who looked for survivors and cried as we watched flag draped stretchers and caskets in the days that followed. To this day we have tears well in our eyes as we remember and watch the events of that day. The emotions that we have held below the surface quickly reappear as we remember and watch all the while still not believing it was real but knowing that it truly happened and our lives and our country were forever changed from the first moment as the first plane struck. We see the gaping hole in the New York skyline and sometimes wonder if the Twin Towers ever really existed or was a figment of our imagination then the disgust, sorrow and anger of that day quickly remind us, yes they did and so did the lives of the thousands who were murdered that day in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. America learned a new definition for hero as hundreds without regard for themselves ran into doomed structures never to be seen again. Yet they did only what they have always done, the duty of caring for their fellow man in a time of need but it took the tragedy of that day to finally call them hero. As the shock of that day began to wear off and the reality of the truth that America had been brutaly attacked by evil and this evil wished the same for every American began to fully sink in, we all stood as one united in resolve and seeking to end those who wished us harm. There were no Republicans nor Democrats, no liberal or conservative or moderate just Americans standing beneath our flag of freedom knowing that who we are, why we exist as a nation, our values, our liberties and our very land were now threatened by finatics whose only goal was to destroy all that we hold dear and the lives of our fellow countymen. Everywhere we looked the flag flew, signs displayed the image of the Twin Towers and The Pentagon stating, "we will never forget !" As time has passed and the vivid memory of that day has become just that, a memory many flags have come down. The signs of unity and, "never forgetting, " have slowly dwindled in number. Partisan bikering has hindered so much while we still seek vengence. The enemy has been damaged but still exists and our national resolve has softened. Yet five years later, the Towers are still gone, a memorial has replaced the smoldering in the Pennsylvania field and the Pentagon has been rebuilt while great progress has been made to make our nation safer. Why then knowing what we have seen and having been warned that to defeat this enemy will take the collective resolve and patience of the nation do we complain as we fight? It is never wrong to disagree with policy nor to have political dicourse for that is one of the blessed freedoms that make the sacrifice of those who died on Sepetember 11 so meaningful. Nor is it wrong to grow weary of war but in that weariness we cannot lose touch with the reasons and the resolve that brought this war to us first on September 11, 2001. A war we did not seek, nor a war that we desired but a war that we must finish and a war that we must win. We are a nation who defends her own and we are a nation who defends those who as we love freedom. September 11 reminded us of the greatness of our people and of the necessity to protect and defend all that we hold dear and of those who would seek to destroy the same. Let us not just shed a tear as we remember. Let us not just reflect on the tragedy or the horror. Let us not just remember those who perished. Let us use this anniversary to regain that resolve and national ferver that united us against a common enemy wherever that enemy chose to hide or dwell throughout the world or whatever they call themselves. Let us stand again as one to defeat the fanatics who stole from us our countrymen and those of 80 other nations who were murdered. The greatest memorial we can give to everyone who died whether in attack or rescue is to renew our nation in the common cause of liberty and freedom to bring final victory so that September 11, 2001 will never happen again!

Ken Taylor