9/11: WHAT DIFFERENCE AT THIS POINT DOES IT MAKE?

Most of us, with the exception of those who weren't born yet, can remember exactly where we were at very the instant we heard that the World Trade Center was being taken down.  It was as if we were transfixed at a very slow moving moment in time, watching in horror as thousands of people either fried or jumped to their deaths.  Confusion and anxiety reigned as Washington, DC became the next victim and we wondered where our president was, if he was safe and what he was doing.

Over the next few hours and days, the country came to grips with what had happened and we came together, bound by the common bond of concern for our safety, mourning for those who were lost and planning to secure our nation's future.  Democrat, Republican, Independent, Black, White, Native, rich, poor, Christian, Jew, Hindu... we stood together, united in purpose and steadfast in determination. 

Tomorrow marks the 15th anniversary of that horrible day.  I heard a zombie network guru refer tomorrow as a "celebration of 9/11."  Good God, man... how can you celebrate that? 

Look at where we've come in those intervening 15 years.  Hillary Clinton has run for president... twice.  Our military might has been sorely degraded.  The Middle East has become a virtual tinderbox.   Worldwide terrorism abounds and we have a president who seems impotent in its face.  North Korea has nuclear weapons.  Iran has become the belligerent super-power of the Gulf.  Virtually every facet of our society is on the precipice of wanting to extinguish all other facets.  Crime, greed, lust for power and corruption infest our government.  

And the lessons of 9/11 are all but forgotten.  Tomorrow, the bells in Manhattan, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville will toll once more, but who will be listening? 

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.