Humble Gnomes with Long Memories Of 9/11
We are only two small gnomes, red-white-and-blue from tip of cap to toe of boot, standing with our little flags. One of us holds the Stars and Stripes. The other holds the America 250 banner. One a simple sign that reads USA, the other a heart of red, white, and blue. We keep to our humble hearth and home, and we have long memories.
We do not understand why so many of our countrymen—especially the young—have been taught to look away from the deliberate terrorism of September 11, 2001. Nearly three thousand souls were murdered that morning when airplanes were turned into weapons against our towers, our Pentagon, and the seat of our government. We said we would never forget. Yet twenty-five years later, many have forgotten, or have been carefully instructed to forget, or have decided that speaking plainly about what happened is somehow racist or “Islamophobic.”
We remember Todd Beamer and the brave passengers of Flight 93 who rose up, fought back, and forced their plane into a Pennsylvania field rather than let it strike the Capitol or the White House. Those were Americans of courage.
The men who hijacked the planes were not soldiers striking a military target. They were terrorists who lived among us, took over our own planes, murdered civilians, and sought to break the spirit of a free people.
Pearl Harbor is remembered every December, though it happened before many of us were born. We do not pretend those attacks were something else. The difference is plain: those pilots wore uniforms and aimed at ships of war. The terrorists of 9/11 wore no uniform and aimed at office workers, passengers, and firefighters. Calling them what they were—terrorists—is not hatred. It is simply the truth.
This is America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. It was never meant to become the land of the blind and the home of the deliberately obtuse. On this twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11–the Patriot’s Day—we remember. We refuse to forget.
We are only humble gnomes, but our memories are long, and we will keep saying the plain words for as long as we stand.
God bless America, our home sweet home, and God bless all American patriots on Patriot’s Day.
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