9/11 History, Remembrance, Reflection...
Commentary by Maj Gen Bedke of the Air Force Flight Test Center:
Men and Women of the Air Force Flight Test Center—
The Even Bigger Picture—A View of our World from the Perspective of the Near Past
Five years ago, it was early September, 2001. I ask you to remember that time as you were living it. Life was good…we were at peace…Ina and I already had our tickets for the big trip to Istanbul, our tour through Turkey and the cruise among the islands of Greece, all to start on 20 September.
There were no warning signs that things were about to change…at least, not unless you counted the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen 11 months earlier…or the simultaneous attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998…or the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996…or the car bomb attack on U. S. servicemen in Riyadh in 1996…or the explosion in the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in 1993…or any of a number of things that I could mention that would take us back to “the beginning.”
Ah, perspective. That first week in September, was the beginning still ahead of us? Or had it occurred in the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993? Or was it the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979? Or was it…the Crusades, as some would have it? Or was it the rise of the original Islamic Caliphate? Or was it…well, you get the idea. Ask a dozen intelligent people, and you’ll get two dozen answers to that question. But in each of those answers lies a different perspective about when it started, why it started, who is to blame, and most important, what we should do from this point forward.
For what it’s worth, here’s my thought: We’re entering tough times. We’d better not succumb to either of two evils.
We’d better not pretend this will be easy, that we can’t make mistakes, or that this is a war we are guaranteed by God to win. Turns out, the other side is thinking the same way.
But we’d also better not decide that life is so bleak that we have no hope of winning, and we’d better cut our losses and end this thing while we’re behind. Because the other side sees this as Total War: Assimilation or annihilation—those are the choices they’re offering.
So, remember the first week of September…but don’t dwell on it. Because there is no going back—not for you, not for your family, not for your children’s children. This is the world you’re in…so what are you going to do with it?
Men and Women of the Air Force Flight Test Center—
The Even Bigger Picture—A View of our World from the Perspective of the Near Past
Five years ago, it was early September, 2001. I ask you to remember that time as you were living it. Life was good…we were at peace…Ina and I already had our tickets for the big trip to Istanbul, our tour through Turkey and the cruise among the islands of Greece, all to start on 20 September.
There were no warning signs that things were about to change…at least, not unless you counted the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen 11 months earlier…or the simultaneous attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998…or the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996…or the car bomb attack on U. S. servicemen in Riyadh in 1996…or the explosion in the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in 1993…or any of a number of things that I could mention that would take us back to “the beginning.”
Ah, perspective. That first week in September, was the beginning still ahead of us? Or had it occurred in the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993? Or was it the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979? Or was it…the Crusades, as some would have it? Or was it the rise of the original Islamic Caliphate? Or was it…well, you get the idea. Ask a dozen intelligent people, and you’ll get two dozen answers to that question. But in each of those answers lies a different perspective about when it started, why it started, who is to blame, and most important, what we should do from this point forward.
For what it’s worth, here’s my thought: We’re entering tough times. We’d better not succumb to either of two evils.
We’d better not pretend this will be easy, that we can’t make mistakes, or that this is a war we are guaranteed by God to win. Turns out, the other side is thinking the same way.
But we’d also better not decide that life is so bleak that we have no hope of winning, and we’d better cut our losses and end this thing while we’re behind. Because the other side sees this as Total War: Assimilation or annihilation—those are the choices they’re offering.
So, remember the first week of September…but don’t dwell on it. Because there is no going back—not for you, not for your family, not for your children’s children. This is the world you’re in…so what are you going to do with it?
posted by Lover-D | 6:16 AM
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