I’m a boomer. Not the
Cold War submarine or Islamic terrorist type, but a post–World War II baby boom
person -- born between the years
1946 and 1964 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Growing up as a boomer, the adults in our
lives used the assassination of JFK as an event that no one could forget where
they were when they first got the news.
For boomers, that unforgettable event was 9/11. Sadly, many of the boomers saw the second
plane slam into the second tower on live TV.
Of course, that wasn’t the end of it -- the twin towers were followed by
the Pentagon and Flight 93 plowing into that Pennsylvania field.
Georgia-native and country music artist, Alan Jackson wrote
a great song shortly after the tragic events of that day – musically asking the
question, “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?"
Well, it’s been 15 years and I’m certain that for those of
us of a “certain age” we can still clearly recall the answer to Alan’s
question. Yes, the incidents of that
day, brought to our shores by Islamic terrorists were terrible, but what makes the
day so memorable? Why can we remember
where we were?
Was it the fact that well-educated, Muslim men, most from
Saudi Arabia, took objects of America’s global prominence, i.e. large passenger
aircraft, turned them into flying torpedoes, and used them to destroy other
objects of our global prominence, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon? What kind of sick religion can produce adherents
that attain martyrdom in destroying buildings packed with peaceful
employees?
Was it the sheer senselessness of the events of that
day? People forced to decide between
leaping to their death and being incinerated in their own office. Massive buildings reduced to rubble.
Was it the courage of the first-responders that selflessly
went into those burning buildings to try to help? They took their training and their chances as
they went to the aid of their fellow man.
Compare that to the terrorists who took flight training so they could
visit tragedy on the twin towers.
It has been 15 years since the events of that day and our
Nation’s ability to attain moral clarity is more muddled than ever. We now have a president who sees us (conservatives
and this country) as the problem. There
is confusion about the meaning of marriage and the inability to distinguish
between man and woman. When it comes to college,
our dear leaders think illegal aliens deserve in-state tuition rates – charging
a fellow citizen from a neighboring state more than a student that illegally
came from another country. No wonder
they hate us – we’re stupid.
Let’s quickly take stock of the last 15 years and look
forward to the next 15 years. Our nation
is at a crossroads. Fifteen years of war
and nothing to show for it but monuments of marble, mentally and physically
scarred veterans, a mountain of debt, and a bitterly divided nation. Most recently, we’ve seen multi-million
dollar football players who will not even stand for the national anthem.
Twenty-five percent of Americans alive today aren’t even old
enough to remember the events of 9/11.
The liberals aren’t smart enough to remember what happened on 9/11. Obama may want to empty GTMO, bail from
Afghanistan and blame America, but the ideology of radical Islam is anything
but done.
If the radical Islamic terrorists had complete freedom,
there’d be one-hundred more 9/11s. If
ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab or countless other radical Islamic groups had their
way, there’d be dirty bombs and disaster delivered on our nation daily. If Islam had its way, every American infidel
would be forced to convert, pay tribute (jizya), or die.
What if Jesus Christ had His way? His desire is for people to find salvation
and eternal life in Him. In the Gospel
of John Jesus put it this way, “I am the good shepherd. The
good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…” Jesus offers an entirely different program
than jizya or jihad.
That Alan Jackson song that asked, “Where were you” eventually
topped the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart for five weeks and earned
Jackson a Grammy Award for Best Country Song.
The chorus to that song reminds us of the only enduring hope there
is:
“I'm just a
singer of simple songs. I'm not a real
political man.
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
the difference in Iraq and Iran.
But I know
Jesus and I talk to God, and I remember this from when I was young.
Faith, hope
and love are some good things He gave us, and the greatest is love.”
