9/11 at Twenty-Five: Somber Solemnity
Exploring America, Twenty-Five Year Later...
An old relative of mine once told me something about himself. He said: "there's something about the month of September that makes it a somber month! We'd lived through Black September in the 70s, my birthday, and now this??" To that effect, I say that every communication made by anyone in their late 30s or older, about this day, twenty-five years ago usually starts with "I remember where I was on this day, x years ago..." I guess I'm no exception. I was still a student, and I had opened my favorite website at the time doomworld.com, and the picture of the day seemed a bit too realistic to be an in-game screenshot. I was late for school, so I closed the computer and went on my way. As I settled in, one of the teachers remarked: "it's going to take years to identify the bodies and give them a proper burial." Another calmly mentioned to the class: "this is your Pearl Harbor." It was quite a surreal moment for me, and I couldn't believe that anyone would have that much hatred for America and her vision.
The Tyranny Terror Touted
As the official story goes, nineteen hijackers from Saudi Arabia trained with Al-Qaeda to convert commercial planes into missiles of mayhem. On that fateful day, these alleged terrorists were able to board the plane freely, use box cutters as their tools of coersion, and change American history forever. I don't necessarily buy the full government story, but the point is that our America, and her vision of freedom were on the line: Middle-Eastern terrorists allegedly wanted to separate Americans from our God-given rights, and the Government assuredly/em> wanted to swoop in and guarantee our security, if we traded our liberties for it. Footage of our alleged Middle-Eastern haters dancing in the streets surfaced, and newsgroups infused emotions and sentiments into us. We were distraught. The one good thing that did come out of the event, is that we began to band together -- if only for a brief moment! A brief moment where political affiliations didn't matter much, and instead, we bonded over our love of country, and our disdain for anti-American sentiments. We went back to our roots: we became a more gregarious society, Churches were filled the following Sunday, and politicians fearlessly prayed over our nation. It's almost as if the decades of damage that the ministry of Ms. Madalyn Murray O'Haire had suddenly been undone. Almost. America had not seen her share of such horrific events for decades, and it was quite rare for something of this caliber to happen. So, America, being gripped by fear and filled with vengeance, decided to concede to the decrees of our then-President, and in due time, the cleft of cataclysmic change was forever formed.
Come to Jesus Moment
This was our warning shot. America had closed its chapter on the decade of decadence, and began a new chapter of the nanny-State, monocratic millenium. Anne Graham Lotz had given an interview on the Early Show, where she was asked how a loving God could let something like 9/11 happen? Her response was more of a conviction towards the arrogant attitudes of Americans concerning God. She answered: "for years, society had been telling God to get out of schools, government, and daily life. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?" Indeed, the American people had been brought to the books, weighed and found wanting. The guarantee of nothing gold can stay rang just as true as it ever had: America was quick to revert to our established normal. Churches had began to empty, the political rift re-opened, as our freedoms were slowly stripped away, and our trust was placed on the very politicians responsible. Misconceptions aroused against the Arabic, Middle-Eastern, and the Muslim communities. Sikh store owners shot dead because they where mistaken for Muslims. Hostilities resumed. America became America again, but with the weltering and waxing of woes: cries for the First, Second, Fourth, and Sixth Amendment rights to be taken or regulated by the Government, while warmongering in Iraq, Afghanistan, all the way into Libya and Syria, and we persist as Proverbs 6:16 people twenty-five years thence.
The More Things Change...
The state of America, in my opinion, has declined significantly since the terrible events of 9/11: millenials are not marrying at a healthy rate, housing and the cost of living have rocketed towards impossible, more "forever wars"are declared, and the outside influences that have infiltrated our educational, political, and commercial aspects of our lives, are threatening to decimate our morals and our quality of life, by introducing ideologies incompatible with the liberties afforded to us by our Creator. And just as well, as He sent the Babylonians to conquer Jerusalem for her disregard for the Lord. With the breakdown in the familial, spiritual, civic, and economical aspects of American living, could this be our day of reckoning coming to pass? America's story has been told before, and her ending is not a very good one.
Conclusion
However, all is not lost! I think America still has a chance to return from her wallowing in the mire, if only she reclaim her blessings from the Lord. I strongly believe that the highest law of the land, our Constitution, was inspired by God, and although many of the founding fathers were not professed Christians, they nailed what a Biblically-sound secular society should to look like: the liberty to sow and reap; the liberty to choose. Now, if America would understand that the answer is not in the White House, which, as a matter of fact, has been the headquarters for a great deal of our problems, then God promises to heal the land. We must recognize that twenty-five years after the callous actions of terrorists, God is still on His throne, and that in our next wake-up call, the consequences might be much more severe.