9-11
Swen Nater

On September 11, 2001, the ungodly and evil devils of terror thrust a deliberate right cross, meant to send an arrogant message to our United States of America, that the precious liberty our great people have paid dearly or, is the frail and temporary fruit of a weak system of government doomed to disintegrate, die, and be filed away in the annals of world history as an idealistic wish that rose and fell and could not withstand the test of time.

Today, on September 11, 2011, ten years later, I boarded an aircraft that took me from Orange County, California, to Seattle, Washington. The Southern California airport was saturated with sober and uniformed security. On the way to security, I passed a dozen of them, always in pairs, and they looked me straight in the eyes. The security checkpoint was much slower than usual as workers were more careful and suspicious than ever. As I passed through the arched metal detector (still too low for my height), the alarm sounded. I didn’t have any metal on me; I was the victim of a random manual check and search.

But I didn’t mind this time. Normally I would say under my breath, “Why me? Why don’t they pick some of those other, more suspicious-looking passengers?” This time, I felt a great peace. I felt safe.

Since September 11, 2001, things have changed in America. We all know and feel that. The author of liberty, The United States of America, that ten years ago lay blissfully and secure between two great oceans, was handed a serious surprise blow and now has its watchful gloves up to keep from being hit with a fatal uppercut or left hook.

Are the terrorists right? Were the founders of this government wrong when they believed freedom and liberty would be the steel that reinforced a concrete constitutional foundation that would stand forever? Did the right cross we took in the face ten years ago weaken us? Are we feeble and faint at the knees, open to be hit with the final blow? Can another country bring this great country down? Abraham Lincoln did not think so.
At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some trans-Atlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined could not, by force, take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we be author and finisher. As a nation of free men, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
If these United States are to be no more, it will not come by terrorism. They may land a punch but cannot knock us out. The only means of defeat possible can take root when we begin to lack conditioning, skill, and teamwork and we fail to maintain the industriousness and enthusiasm that made us the great ambassador of liberty we are and should be.

With that in mind, September 11, 2001 was not a right cross that weakened us and left us frail or faint at the knees. On the contrary, their efforts have gravely backfired for they have awakened these United States to counter in the next round with a new strength and renewed resolve in who we are and that for all time, liberty is the way of the future for all people and that tyranny, slavery, bigotry, and the suppression of any race or any gender is no match for it and is doomed instead.