15 Years Ago….

15 years ago, I woke up early to get ready for work, flipped on the tv right after the first plane hit. I was watching the news when the second plane hit. The towers collapsed while I was on the bus to work.

Basically, it boils down to freedom. We were attacked for being a free country. For standing for free ideals. But that has made us a target. Because quite frankly, a good chunk of the world hates us, just for being Americans. Because we welcome others. Because we can worship whatever god or gods that we choose. Because you can be a washed-up, has-been quarterback and still make a statement by taking a knee during the national anthem. Because we can say the President has Quaker Oats for brains and get in more trouble for maligning Quaker Oats. Because we can go out, work hard, and achieve our dreams. Because we want the rest of the world to be free (though I’m not going to comment on the invasion of Iraq or the conflict in Afghanistan).

Some would say that Religion was the main motivation for these attacks. It wasn’t. Most of Al-Qaeda’s (a supposedly Muslim terrorist group) victims were Muslims themselves. Just like ISIS of today. I’m not a Muslim, so I can not say whether or not they are really Muslims, but from the Muslim friends that I do know, they don’t act like Muslims. There are some here who catagorize all Muslims as terrorists (but Timothy McVeigh wasn’t).

But I digress. 15 years ago, we were attacked because of our freedom. We’re still here. We’ve been attacked since then, and we’re still here. And we’re going to be attacked again. And we’ll still be here. There are those amongst the lawmakers who kepp trying to erode our freedom in the name of security, but if you turn america into a neo-fascist surveillance state, then the terrorists will have ultimately won. And they’ll still attack us anyway. Those who would give up their liberty for security will recieve neither.

Let us not forget those we lost that day. These 2,990+ martyrs of freedom. They paid the ultimate sacrifice for us to be free (as have many, many other people). Freedom isn’t free. So I will remember those who died that day. By being free.

Live free or die.