| By Sean Rhody |
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| September 10, 2003 05:06 PM EDT |
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(September 11, 2003) - Today marks the second anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center, and the attack on the Pentagon and the heroics over that field in Pennsylvania. Last year I wrote a column about what it was like that day, two years ago, to watch in horror as friends and relatives were killed or injured in that despicable act of terrorism. I was asked if we should rerun my column from last year in memorial to that day. Instead, I wanted to say this:
SYS-CON Media is not a political publisher. The issues that SYS-CON covers rarely have anything to do with foreign or domestic policy, rather, they deal with the usual controlled anarchy of the world of information technology. I don't pretend to have all the information or the straight story on what happened on September 11th, or who was to blame or why.
I do know this, however.
I can find articles I've written, translated into Russian, Japanese and Chinese, on the Internet. I have incredible freedom to write and say whatever I wish. I live in a country where freedom of speech is so prevalent, the owners of that great privilege take it for granted as just one of their inalienable rights. The common man in the street feels it is his right, his privilege, his God-given (and I mean that with a capital G), unassailable right to voice his opinion, to disagree with the president, the governor, the mayor, or even the cop who ticketed his car. This is America.
I will not be silent, I will not be humble nor will I be apologetic to a world where this right is seen as a threat to the establishment. Without endorsing a particular party or candidate or incumbent, I endorse the system of government that has led the United States to prominence in the world, even if it irks, annoys, dismays, or frightens other ideologies. So be it.
I believe that all people are entitled to their opinions. That government of the people and by the people is a worthy ideal - worth fighting for, worth dying for, and worth arguing for. I believe that the rule of law, not the rule of terror, frees people to be the best people they can be. I believe terrorism is a plague on humanity, and shall not be endured by any free people.
I believe that on that fateful day, two years ago, ordinary men and women became heroes, and ordinary heroes became icons. On that day, all that America stood for became clear. Government of the People, by the People, and for the People. People, freedom, and family.
A colleague of mine from Australia commented recently that he could not understand the flags that wave from house to house in the United States - it was strange to him; it would not occur to him, nor to most Australians to fly their flag over their own homes. I told him that I understood that - it had not occurred to many of us before September 11th. But since then we've grown as a nation - we realize that we have differences, but whatever those differences, the protection and preservation of our liberties, and the sacredness of our families, of all faiths and creeds, drives us to fly the flag that represents our common belief in our system of government. A government that, if flawed, is at least free and representative of our people.
May God grant peace to the families of all those who lost loved ones two years ago, or in defense of our nation since then. God bless our families and God Bless America.
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