Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
September 3, 2012
Eleven years ago today, our world as we knew it changed interminably.
Wherever Americans around the globe were located they
suddenly had a heightened sense of who they were as individuals, as countrymen
and as proud patriots. Our only concerns were whether or not our families and
loved ones were safe – especially for those of us living within the sights and
sounds of Ground Zero – either of them.
Nothing else mattered – not politics, not sports – all seemed
so insignificant while our realities seemed so surreal. However, attending the
first Orioles home game after the resumption of baseball on September 21 proved
otherwise as halfway through the National Anthem I began to cry like a baby,
and I know I wasn’t alone.
Having grown up in north Jersey, with parents, sadly both
Blessed memories, still living there, contact was vital. I was living in
Northern Virginia, about 10 miles from the Pentagon, working as local newspaper
reporter on a deadline that fateful Tuesday. We were able to appraise each
other as to our whereabouts and safety, but so many others we knew were not as
fortunate.
Once the beautiful, crisp morning air and blue skies were
permeated by the evils of al-Qaeda in New York City, Arlington, VA and
Shanksville, PA, all stories and deadlines were shelved in favor of the biggest
breaking news since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
The entire newspaper staff was dispatched to as many
communities in Northern Virginia as possible to cover the horrific terrorist
attacks of that morning. A new day had dawned.
In fact, a new era had dawned – one that includes
gropings at airports, stadiums and any other large populated venue; the
surrendering of privacy rights and potentially freedoms in favor of political
correctness because we don’t want to seem insensitive to other groups.
Yet, while life has gone blithely on as we distance
ourselves further and further from September 11, 2001, and the restrictions on
our freedoms become more of an inconvenience and not a violation of the
Constitution, it becomes easier for the government to dictate our lives. This
we must fight as though our very existence as a free people depends upon it,
because, well, it does.
“Those that would sacrifice freedom for security deserve
neither,” said a prophetic Benjamin Franklin.
Never forget what happened that innocent Tuesday morning
11 years ago. Our collective national strength rose up from those ashes like
that of the Phoenix, and their deaths shall not have been in vain.
Sanford D. Horn is
a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.
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