I hope you have the opportunity to spend quality time with your family this weekend. Hug your friends and loved ones tight. Cherish all that life offers you and the limitless possibilities that lie before you in this land of the free and home of the brave.
This is a blessing that those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, will not be able to enjoy for themselves.
This Monday marks the five-year anniversary of those indescribably awful terrorist attacks against our nation.
The suffering of that day was unimaginable. The people in the Twin Towers of New York and the Pentagon; the passengers and crews aboard the hijacked airplanes; the firefighters, police and EMTs who died by the hundreds while trying to save the lives of others.
It's important to have some moments in life where you take measure of things and stop yourself from being caught up in the harried frenzy that is often a typical day for most Americans.
On Monday, Sept. 11, 2006, we have a chance to stop the craziness of our personal lives – even if only for a few moments – and pay tribute to the lives lost on that fateful day five years ago.
Overcoming the pain
I had the chance to speak with Deena Burnett yesterday on the radio. Deena Burnett, you might remember, is the pretty and passionate mother of three beautiful girls who became an image of resoluteness in the face of pain that so many Americans rallied around. It was a time when we all were feeling so raw and ripped apart, and here was a now-widowed mother of three girls helping to carry a nation forward.
When the nation embraced Deena Burnett with love and admiration, she decided to put the feelings of goodwill to good use. She started a college scholarship fund for the children of the victims of 9/11.
Heroism, it seems, runs miles deep within the Burnett family.
Deena's husband, Tom Burnett, and the passengers of United Flight 93 decided to fight to retake their airplane from the terrorists. As many pointed out, it was the first counter-measure taken by this nation to fight back from the 9/11 attacks.
Tom and the others aboard Flight 93 didn't need an order from the military or a resolution authorizing military force from the U.S. Congress. Instead, they put aside their fear and found within them the courage to do something to stop the evil that stood before them.
"Don't worry, we're going to do something," Tom told Deena before hanging up for the final time.
Even as death looked him in the eye, Tom Burnett was selfless; determined to ease the pain and worry that had gripped not him, but his wife.
And then, his wife in turn stepped forward and did the same for our nation.
A united nation
The 9/11 terrorist attacks were so horrific and so unexpected (and broadcast on live television as a shared experience) that Americans acted as one people – one nation – on that day and in the grieving process thereafter.
The images of innocent civilians in the Twin Towers hanging out of windows or jumping to their deaths rattles the soul like almost nothing else can. Seeing the choices that faced those people and realizing that they could control only how they died and how much pain they would be forced to endure evokes that potent mix of incredible sadness, anger, rage and hopelessness. What's tragic is that this was exactly what the Islamic terrorists who launched this attack wanted us to feel. They wanted us to suffer.
The days that have followed Sept. 11 have revealed an American public conflicted about how to make sure such suffering is never endured again.
The lack of a culture war over films such as "United 93" and "World Trade Center" is encouraging. There has not been a rewriting of the facts of that day despite the best efforts by crackpot conspiracists and their allies in the anti-war movement.
The spree of Islamic terrorist attacks in allied nations around the globe and the thwarting of hundreds more attempts has motivated the American public to remain vigilant about combating the terrorist threat.
The reason the Patriot Act and terrorist wiretapping programs enjoy the support of the public in spite of efforts to politicize them as some kind of evidence of an out-of-control Bush administration is obvious. The people of this nation have seen clearly now in the days following 9/11 that the terrorist networks responsible for the attack on this nation are determined to finish the job they started.
Honoring the fallen, and those who defend us
This Monday it is important for our nation to come together – just as we did five years ago.
We need to show ourselves and the rest of the world that the things that unite Americans – our freedoms, individual liberties, limitless opportunities, decency and justice – are even stronger than the steel beams of the World Trade Center.
We need to take a few moments to pay our respects to those lives lost, and let them know that we will always remember what happened to them and that we will do our level best to make sure that justice is brought against the militant terrorist groups responsible for such savagery.
And we must show our support for our troops who are fighting in the front lines of the war against terrorism. These are America's finest, and most days they are a forgotten convenience for many Americans. These brave and noble young men and women who are your neighbors, friends and co-workers serve and fight and sometimes die, while the rest of us go about our daily lives freely, enjoying the fruits of our soldiers' sacrifices.
This Monday, Sept. 11, let us start by flying our flags from our homes and cars.
And when we've completed our duties at work or our chores at home let us gather together en masse at the planned 9/11 commemorative events.
If you live in the western United States, you should join us at the giant "America Remembers" event in Sacramento, Calif. Full details are available at the Move America Forward website.
If you live in the eastern United States, you should make the effort to join the national "Freedom Walk." You can get full details on this event here.
Freedom isn't free, and we owe it to those who paid the ultimate price to make the effort to honor the sacrifices of our greatest heroes.