Our granddaughter was not yet born.  The grandsons were little boys, now young men, unaware of the tragedy that struck.  I remember pouring a cup of coffee and preparing to sit down and watch the news when it happened.  In the splendid clarity of that crisp autumn morning, something occurred that would change the way we think and believe today.  Our freedom was placed on the line.  For a long time, we didn’t trust anyone.  We looked at people differently. We were suspicious of our neighbors as well as strangers.

Crushed steel lay in ashes.  The images of bodies jumping from windows to their death was branded in my mind.  Then another attack and another.  For a time, we thought the world was coming to an end and to many it did.  Children were oblivious to it.  Adults mourned for the lost, the elderly remembered another similar attack on American soil – Pearl Harbor.

Churches filled with people tried to make sense of it.  Flags being sold off the shelves to those who had a sudden surge of patriotism and desire to display it.  Hymns rang out with a refreshed love of God and country.  Funerals celebrated lives of the fallen.  They continued for days.  The memory lives on, yet have we forgotten?

Today our focus seems to be on political shenanigans – a system that’s falling apart – an elected president being put on the defensive every day – a party intent on impeaching him – division which hasn’t been seen since the Civil War.  Materialism is the offering of the day.  Children are under attack by other children and those whose minds have been lost somewhere in the madness of living.  We are still under attack.

Every year on this day, since 2001, we’re reminded of that horrible event. We’ll hear speeches about it.  We’ll see countless film accounts.  The news will be flooded with familiar photographs.  Will it matter to us?  Have we become so calloused in such a short time that the pain, suffering and death of that day has been put on the shelf.

Now, more than ever, we need to stand united under God.  We must do so before another wake up call is sent our way.  God bless the United States of America and may we be drawn back to Him so we can stand against our enemies.

“When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice. The Bible tells us, ‘How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.’ Donald Trump