Remembering 9-11

A lot of things have changed since that fateful day on September 11th fourteen years ago. The American people are resilient though and we have picked ourselves up by our bootstraps and have persevered despite military involvement in the Middle East for well over a decade. We have also become a lot more cautious as a society.

The morning of September 11th, 2001 brought us out of the dark into a cruel world that forced us to face some difficult truths. Our largest, and possibly, the most globally recognized city was blindsided by terrorists. A hub for international business and one of the world’s most diverse ethnic and cultural meccas was ruthlessly attacked and thousands of people perished in the ensuing disaster and aftermath. We as Americans quickly found out, in the span of a few moments one morning that fall, just how vulnerable we were to surprise attack than we may have ever been cognizant of.

Our men and women in uniform are still in service all across the Middle East whether it’s Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan or everywhere and anywhere in-between. Because we’re fighting an ideology and an anti-American sentiment and resentment from people in that region of the globe, former President George W. Bush dubbed the American military response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th “The Long War”.

After all the time we have spent in the Middle East since, we are not without our victories in our ongoing fight against terrorism. We helped bring the long, tyrannical reign of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to a crashing halt. We purged the world of the man who orchestrated the September 11th terrorist attacks (among many others) Osama Bin Laden in a tactical strike on his compound. And the world no longer has to fear the rule of the militant despot in Libya, Muammar Gaddafi.

Despite these victories in the ongoing war against terrorism, we can ill afford to become complacent and allow ourselves to ever be as vulnerable as we once were. Staying prepared is a 24/7 job, not only for our military, but also for people that are responsible for airport security as well as policemen and many other working professionals that work tirelessly to maintain our way of life.