Remembering 9/11: The Jumpers…

It doesn’t seem like fourteen years ago, does it?  It seems like only yesterday.  We were all watching the morning news when a breaking story riveted our attention:  The World Trade Towers were on fire.  As the sketchy details flowed in, it looked like some sort of aircraft had accidently flown too low over Manhattan and smacked into a building.  Then, when the second plane hit the second tower, you got a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.  We were being attacked.  And then, on television, you watched as people jumped out of the burning buildings.

Members of the Greatest Generation are slowly but surely leaving us for their earned reward.  Each, if you asked, could tell you exactly what he was doing when he heard that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.  Each knew precisely where he was when he heard about FDR’s death.  The sneak attack on December 7, 1941, spurred millions of loyal Americans to dedicate their unstinting efforts toward the ultimate end of victory.  News of the president’s death at Warm Springs, Georgia, caused most folks to want to redouble their efforts.  Nothing short of total victory would be acceptable.

The children of the Greatest Generation—the War Babies and the Baby Boomers—can all remember the news of the assassination of President Kennedy.  Where they were, what they were doing, how they felt when they heard the tragic news.  There was much talk of “passing the torch,” and showing our love for the martyred JFK by enlisting in the War on Poverty and the civil rights movement.

But the collective memory of the brutal terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, is more diffuse; more troubling.  Political correctness, progressive “tolerance,” and a leftist antipathy toward patriotism has crippled our national ability to identify our enemies with any degree of clarity.  And it has totally destroyed our ability to stay mad at our adversaries; or even to get mad at them at all.

It’s as if our entire country has been gulled into some sort of pop-psychology anger management group session.  A bunch of illegal aliens, shouting “Allahu akbar!” were induced by fundamentalist Islamic clerics into hijacking commercial passenger jets and flying them into buildings in an attempt to kill civilians and destroy our infidel Western society, and we are expected to stay calm and avoid “the blame game.” 

We now have a president whose “spiritual mentor” has suggested that America in many ways deserved the way the chickens came home to roost on 09/11/01.  Speaking on the ninth anniversary of the attack, that president told us:  "We will not sacrifice the liberties we cherish or hunker down behind walls of suspicion and mistrust."  He suggested that we should observe the anniversary of the Moslem attack by volunteering to work in a soup kitchen or something.

A half-century ago, another Democratic president gave a speech to congress on the day after the “day of infamy.”  He said, “The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.”  He said that Americans would always “…remember the character of the onslaught against us.”

And then FDR swore:  “No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory… we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again… With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.”

Notice any differences between the crippled president of 1941 and the gutless wonder inhabiting the White House today?  Obama warned us not to give in to “hatred and prejudice,” and promised:  “… as Americans we are not — and never will be — at war with Islam.” 

Really?  Even if Islam has been at war with Western civilization continuously for fourteen centuries?  Even if we are attacked again and again?  Even if we have to surrender in order to get them to leave us alone?

Expert observers estimate that the WTC jumpers—who had to face the terrifying choice of being burned alive or plummeting to certain death—took an average of ten seconds to fall to the pavement; fully conscious all the way down.  Striking the concrete at 150 miles per hour, they were likely—and mercifully—killed instantly upon impact.

Your Mom probably told you to “count to ten,” before getting angry.  Good advice.  Watch the video above, and before you allow yourself to get angry at the Islamofascists who let loose the dogs of war, count to ten.  Slowly.  And try to imagine what those folks were thinking about on the way down…  Then, get mad as hell!