Found this on the Internet:
Twenty-five years have passed since the morning our soil became a battlefield, but a quarter-century has done nothing to dull the edge of our resolve. Time moves forward, skylines are rebuilt, and generations rise that never saw the smoke, but the pact made in the embers of September 11, 2001, remains absolute: Never Forget. Never Forgive.
We do not forget the 2,977 innocent lives stolen in Manhattan, inside the Pentagon, and in a field outside Shanksville. We do not forget the terror inflicted upon our people, the families shattered in an instant, or the agony of a nation forced to watch its own burning. The names etched in bronze are not abstract figures of history; they are a permanent record of an unprovoked, cold-blooded act of war.
And we do not forgive the enemy who struck us.
Forgiveness requires a world that did not exist that morning and cannot exist while evil seeks our destruction. To forgive would be to minimize the slaughter of our citizens, to trivialize the ultimate sacrifice of the first responders who charged into the flames, and to betray the warriors who spent the next two decades hunting down those responsible in every dark corner of the globe. Justice was delivered to the architects of that day, but the stance remains unyielding: those who plot the ruin of our nation will find no quarter, no amnesty, and no absolution.
Standing at this 25-year marker, memory is our weapon and our duty. We keep the watch with hardened hearts and sharp focus. We pass down the truth of that day to those who follow—not as a soft lesson in healing, but as a stern testament to vigilance.
Two decades and a half later, our vow has not withered. We remember the cost. We honor the fallen. We hold the line.
Never Forget. Never Forgive.
Commentary:
I remember how united this country was shortly after the cowardly terrorist attacks. It didn't last very long, did it, this unity?
All the blood and treasure spent since then....and I'm not sure we changed anything.
Still, the Colors fly today at my home.
2 comments:
9/11 shocked the world, Dom. We remember and do not forget. I visited the US a couple of weeks after and was impressed how united, composed and calm everything seemed given the circumstances, and how huge international sympathy, support and grief was in these difficult times.
I remember watching the news coverage. It seemed surreal. Like a cinematic fiction. It took some time for the weight of it to sink in. I've been to the Flight 93 Memorial and it had an energy similar to what I felt at Gettysburg. That something terrible had happened.
The country certainly was united for a time. But politicians always seem ready to turn things upside down to meet their goals. And now, well, we're a long way from the end of 2001.
The statement "Never forget, never forgive" always bothered me.I agree with the part about not forgetting. But the second part about not forgiving seems to miss the point of forgiveness in my mind. I forgive for myself, not for others. It's a way to let go of the weight and burden of grief and anger which turns into a poison that kills me and not someone else. I know a lot of people who feel forgiveness equals approval. I don't see it that way. I just feel the best way to honor those who died is to have a clean, light heart so I can remember them and try and bring to the world the best of them. Easier said than done, especially in the face of such a horrific act. Forgiveness allows for healing. To never forgive is like drinking poison every day and hoping someone else dies...
My two cents.
Never forget.
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