It doesn’t seem like nine years have passed since America’s Second Day of Infamy: September 11, 2001.
As I reflect on that fateful day, I am reminded of a song — do I dare say patriotic hymn — by Darryl Worley. The lyrics hauntingly ask each of us what should remain the core of every citizen’s recollection:
“Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away…”
As the haunting lyrics replay in our national memory, we must find our way to make room for the more pointed question: Have “they” forgotten?
Of course, the “they” to whom I refer are the apologists and politicians who chose to confuse or manipulate the Ground Zero mosque issue.
The only rational excuse for them is that they have forgotten.
“Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell…”
Or could it be that some of the “they” — knowingly as well as unknowingly — have become instruments and pawns in the ongoing assault on America?
It should not surprise thinking Americans that our enemies have conscientiously studied our country from its founding and original principles, our governing processes, modern social proclivities and political propensities in order to understand, probe, and identify those numerous “Achilles heels” in the soft, progressive underbelly of America.
“What about our freedom, and this piece of ground
We didn’t get to keep ’em, by backing down …”
And we won’t get to keep our country if we wilt under domestic media manipulation by Time Magazine and others that suggest citizen opposition to what some have described as a “victory mosque” is a symptom of Islamophobia.
And we won’t get to keep our country … by sending mosque promoter Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf on a taxpayer-funded trip through the Middle East to bolster support for the Ground Zero mosque’s construction.
And we won’t get to keep our country if we permit the construction of a 1,056-foot tall “middle finger” just a couple of blocks from where 19 Muslim terrorists murdered almost 3,000 Americans during the most deadly attack on the U.S. mainland in history.
“Have you forgotten all the people killed?
Yeah, some went down like heroes, in that Pennsylvania field
Have you forgotten about our Pentagon?
All the loved ones that we lost and those left to … carry on.”
Regardless of one’s views on Islam, building a mosque near Ground Zero is deliberately provocative and unacceptable. This is not an example of Islamophobia, it’s just common sense to “…those left to… carry on.”
Carry on?
Yes — that’s US!
Every single one of U.S.!
Richard Olivastro is president of Olivastro Communications; a professional member of the National Speakers Association; and, founder of Citizens For Change (www.CFC.us). He can be reached via email: RichOlivastro@gmail.com; telephone: 877.RichSpeaks.