Nine Years Later...

I still remember.

I'm still angry.

I still want to see someone pay for what happened.

My flag still flies - everyday - but today it is at half-staff.

I don't forgive.

And I will NEVER forget.

Today's our "Hometown Days", where we have games, activities, etc. down at the town complex. All of the local groups have booths to sign people up for various activities, and I'll be manning the Cub Scout booth all day like I've done for the past three years. It starts at 10, and I'll be leaving at 9 to go set things up, my truck packed with Cub Scout memorabilia from my son's Tiger, Wolf, and Bear years. We'll have Pinewood Derby cars, rockets from the Rocket Launch, patches from camp, and all sorts of other little reminders of the fun things that Cub Scouts do.

The events of nine years ago will be in my thoughts all day today. I wonder how many others will remember. I wonder how many will even care. In our microsecond attention span, September 11th, 2001 might as well have happened during the Renaissance; minor unpleasantness brought about because of [a] the incompetence of the previous administration; [b] the incompetence of the administration in charge; [c] insert your own reason here; [d]fanatics who cling to a forgotten age willing to kill innocents over centuries-old slights. Far too many are too eager to pick [a] or [b]; too few realize how pervasive the enemy we truly is.

They're still out there. They still want us dead. Far too few of us realize this, and even fewer wish the reverse - let's kill them before they kill us. Personally, I liked the policy of going to where they are and killing them there as opposed to letting them come here and dying as they kill thousands of us, but we seem to have forgotten the horror of nine years ago. We've lost the willingness to fight this war, preferring the 15-minute conclusion (that's really about 14 minutes too long for the average American's attention span). We've moved onto the next thing, and the next thing after that.

Remember, please, where you were that day.



And never forget - or forgive.

That is all.