Domestic Terrorism

Today we are all remembering, for the eighth year in a row, when the Twin Towers came down. Built by American ingenuity, destroyed by hostile self-righteousness, they are now more of a symbol than they were standing in the Manhattan skyline.

I was walking to morning class when I approached the dorm I normally cut through to save time. At a distance I saw several students standing motionless, staring blankly at a t.v. screen. In that moment I thought, "Many people have just died." My whole school shut down so we could watch coverage. A friend of mine said, "You know what this means? We're going to war."

I called my Mom, whose birthday is also September 11th, desperately wanting to know if either of my brothers-in-law would be deployed. As it turns out, they both were; one for six months and the other three years. The latter had only one break, which came when he was struck with shrapnel from a suicide bomber's blast, a bomber who had infiltrated their base and exploded himself in the mess hall.

I can truly say that my life has not been the same since that day in 2001. I was a staunch liberal at the time, but everything started to turn conservative when the issue of homeland protection came into play. I had never thought of it, but when I did my conclusion was "whatever is takes to keep us safe."

Despite his foibles, President Bush did that for us. He kept us safe. According to my bro-in-law (the three year veteran, who is now an Officer in the Army linguistics division), there are terrorists everywhere, so many you can hardly keep track. Part of what he does is help to track them. So he's keeping us safe, too.

Will President Obama keep us safe? I truly do not know. I was struck with anger, then fear at his portrayal of America abroad, his saying over and over again that we have done wrong and are asking for forgiveness. As far as I remember, no one offered an apology for bringing down the Towers. No one who was responsible, I mean. Yet we are now advertising to the world that our involvement in keeping smaller, less armed countries safe was imperialism? Something does not compute.

We have domestic terrorists, too. Just today in Michigan, two men were brutally gunned down by a man with a personal grudge against them. One of the victims was a long-time pro-life supporter, who was simply holding up a sign in front of a high school when shot multiple times. The killer (in custody and has confessed to both murders, as well as the planning of a third) is a domestic terrorist. When murder is the answer for a disagreement of policy or politics, it's terrorism.

There is no telling what tomorrow, or next year, or the next decade will bring. President Obama may have a second term, he may not. We may be attacked again, we may not. One thing will surely come to pass: those who pray for the demise of terrorism and put their faith in a gracious and holy God to accomplish it will not be disappointed. As a citizen and believer, this is your best defense.