Innocence Lost

December 7, 1941, said President Roosevelt, was “a day that shall live in infamy.” And so was September 11, 2001.  That savage attack, carried out by Islamic terrorists, was the day, as in 1941, when the United States of America lost its collective innocence.

The three-location carnage on that September morning striped us of our innocence, once again, and like its devastating forerunner attack, brought with it a sense of unity to the nation.  America’s sense of unity and sacrifice continued, for the most part, despite emotional fatigue and with the deeply saddening loss of loved ones in uniform, until the end of that conflict, almost four-years in duration.

Sadly, that feeling of national unity and sudden vulnerability, created by the Islamic attack on America, lasted but a matter of weeks.  And the remembrance of that devastating day has significance, now, only for those old enough to witness, or afterwards comprehend, how that attack did, and would continue to, change the expectations and the defensive priorities of our nation.  How it would bring us, face to face, with the stark reality that we, too, were now targets of the Islamic barbarians, who we would learn, and grudgingly have to accept, have the r ultimate intent, not matter how long may take, of conquering the free world, if not by bullets, then by ballots, in order to impose their Dark Ages, iron-fisted, theocratic ideology on peoples who, heretofore, had desired and loved liberty.

Following the devastating multi-state flooding and other damaging impact from Hurricane Florence, there will inevitably and thankfully be a period of at least regional American unity.  The most generous people on earth will come together, financially and physically, to offer aid and assistance to their fellow Americans, whose lives were upended, and their property damaged or destroyed, by this massive storm, which thankfully, at the very least, proved to have less wind intensity than was originally projected.

Regrettably, within the accustomed brief period where assistance is given, and impacted lives begin to return to a reconstructed version of normal, the feelings of regional unity, and individual compassion, will inevitably fade, as those unaffected by the storm return to their own normal lives.  Wouldn’t it be nice if Americans could come together for much longer periods of time, if not permanently?  If regional, preferably national, longer term unity could exist once again, voluntarily, without being forced upon us, each time, by a natural or man-made disaster.  Sadly, this is unlikely to happen on its own.  But for the sake of our nation, and of our citizens, that would be a sincere and heart-felt wish.