Could It Happen Today?
Last Friday, I noted the 9/12 effect…the feeling of solidarity and cooperation Americans felt in the wake of the devastating Attack on America on September 11, 2001. And I suggested that it would be nice to have that back now, during troubled times.
A review of the 20th anniversary commemorations over the weekend sadly leaves me to think getting back to the 9/12 spirit these days would be impossible…even if, heaven forbid, there was another 9/11-type incident.
That does not mean we don’t try, of course. But in seeing the footage again of how we as average citizens responded to a terrorist attack on our soil, and hearing again some of the popular songs written at the time…I just don’t see anything like that happening these days, with the political waters so polluted and foul.
Remember those songs? Slow but powerful songs like “Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning” and “Have You Forgotten”…upbeat but powerful songs like “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue”. Could those even be made these woke, politically correct days…even by country artists?
Revisionists say those who perpetrated the attacks should not be called “terrorists”, and the further in time we move from the incident, the easier it will be to sanitize history like that.
But seeing the images again…there’s no sanitizing that. And that’s good, especially in light of the past month.
So even if the coming together we experienced two decades ago cannot happen today…those who believe in this country and what it has proudly, consistently stood for should not stand down, and should be even more vigilant in resisting the sanitizing and revising. Never forget…and never stop reminding others.
