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Some Have Forgotten

Some have forgotten...

In recent days, there has been controversy surrounding certain athletes standing, sitting, or kneeling during the national anthem. Now, they have their reasons, and they have the right to do so. This is one of the hallmarks of the freedom that we enjoy in our country. But while their intentions may be fine, these actions do reveal that some have forgotten.

Some have forgotten the events of 9/11 that brought about a small revitalization of patriotism. It brought about a spark of unity among our citizens.

While some have forgotten, I can assure you there are many who have not.

Every day on military installations around the country and beyond, usually at 0800 and 1700, Colors is played and the flag is raised and lowered. Those outdoors at the time stop what they are doing. If walking, they are to be at attention, turned in the direction of the flag ceremony, saluting (if in military uniform; otherwise, just at attention). If driving, they are to pull to the side of the road and wait until the ceremony is concluded. Every day.

Many of those in service to our country at the present are in military service, in part, due to the events of 9/11.

I share with you a story of one who has not forgotten. He is a chaplain friend of mine. Here is his statement (used by permission):

9/11/01, 9:30 AM - I was a happily married lawyer with an infant son, sitting in my downtown office, talking to my boss on the phone. In the midst of discussing a case, my boss suddenly started narrating to me the events emerging from the TV news in the background. That was my first awareness of what was happening. By the end of the day, I felt inside I personally needed to do something - anything - to make the world a safer, better place.

9/11/16, 7:00 AM - I'm waking on my last morning home. Still happily married and the infant grown to a teen, yet me well on the downside of middle age. Now I am a Navy officer, a chaplain, soon to fly through NYC on my way to deploy in support of the Global War on Terror that started that day. Very much the culmination of the internal shift that started within me that day, though I never would have imagined this would be who I'd become. May God go with me that I might help even a little in making this world better.

There are many others whose stories are the same. They serve (myself included) because of the events of 9/11.

There is another group of individuals who have not forgotten: the families of those who died that day. They will never, in this life, forget the horror of 9/11. They live the tragedy regularly.

They don't forget. We won't forget.

We may not like many aspects of what our country has become. We may not like the trajectory of our moral decline. We certainly do not like the philosophical and theological quagmire our country has induced.

But, we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Let us remember.

Let us support those who serve.

Let us pray.