Five years

I remember the day started pretty innocuously. I had been at work for about an hour or so when our department admin, Cari, came over to my office and said something like, "You're interested in airplanes and stuff, right?" I replied affirmatively, and she continued, "They said on the radio that a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center." I asked what kind of plane it was, and she told me that they were reporting that it was a small private plane (the news was still pretty sketchy at that point). I asked if the weather was bad, and she said she didn't know. I told her that a B-17 had crashed into the Empire State building back around World War II because of heavy fog, and maybe it was something like that. So we made small talk for a little while longer and she went back to her office.

A little while later, Cari came back, white-faced, and said that another plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I immediately said, "That wasn't an accident." I remember the stomach-wrenching feeling of knowing that attacks on the country were taking place while we were sitting trying to do some relatively meaningless work. I went over to Doug and Ellen's office, because they have a seldom-used television there, and watched the news with a small knot of people for a little while. Doug came back to my office a little while later and said that one of the towers had collapsed. That, I honestly could not believe. Then, of course, we were back watching on the TV, and I saw the second tower collapse.

Even now, it seems impossible that those two buildings would go down like that, and I'm sure that in their wildest dreams, the terrorists never imagined that they would either. Other images I have of that day are the terror and panic of the people around the WTC as it collapsed; President Bush speaking for the first time and breaking down in tears; and of course, people jumping to escape the flames. I also remember thanking God that George Bush was president rather than Al Gore.

It astounds me that today we know so much about the men who committed this terrible act and that we had allowed them free access to the means by which they attacked us. It disturbs and angers me that rather than addressing the system that allows Middle Eastern men to learn how to pilot an aircraft, get easy access to student visas and pass into our country undetected, the citizens of this country are required to take off their shoes and pour out their beverages before boarding a plane (as if that will somehow stop an attack). Could anything be more ridiculous than the extremes to which we go not to offend people who have no qualms against blowing themselves up to kill as many of us as they can?

I know it is unpopular and politically incorrect to view the conflict with Islamist terrorists as a conflict between Islam and Christianity, or a battle of good versus evil. And yet, the terrorists themselves have no problem framing their jihad in just those terms (with themselves as the good guys, of course). LJ and I recently watched the first season of the HBO series "Rome" (WARNING - viewer discretion advised). The first year of the series focused on the rise and fall of Julius Caesar. One of the most profound things about the series is that it brings home how the culture of Rome in the days before Christianity is almost unimaginable to the West today. However, the brutality and disregard for human life in those times is rivaled by that of the Muslim world today. We in the West do not realize how much the teachings of Jesus Christ inform our cultural respect for human life, even for those to whom Christianity is repugnant. There is no parallel in the Muslim world. The history of Islam is rife with war, betrayal, assassination and cruelty, not only to "infidels," but to other Muslims as well. I know that there's a school of thought out there that holds that the history of Christianity is no different, and there are, sadly, numerous examples from history to support this. However, the truth is that human beings are depraved, and that evil people will wrap themselves in whatever legitimacy serves their purposes. However, if you look at the overall impact of Jesus Christ on our culture, as opposed to the life of Mohammed on the Muslim culture, it's easy to understand why you will never see a vast crowd of Westerners jubilantly dancing in the street when 3000 civilians are purposefully murdered.

And just in case you were wondering, CNN Reports, "A lengthy statement from al Qaeda number 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks calls on Muslims to step up their resistance to the United States."