A Father's Retrospective of September 11th

My Daughter Won't... by Eric Power


Twelve years have passed since that terrible, fateful Tuesday in 2001, when 19 Muslim extremists perpetrated the worst terrorist attack on American soil in the history of our country. They killed nearly 3000 innocent civilians, and brought down or heavily damaged the symbols of economic prosperity, freedom and military might, ideals that have put this country at the top of the list in world history. They may have done more if not for a group of patriots on United Flight 93, who chose to fight and ultimately perish for their country, rather than dying to further the twisted goals of their hijackers. We didn't know it at the time, but the terrorists did something else that day. Whether intentionally or by accident, they set in motion an inexorable change in our nation from which we've yet to recover. Ever since 9-11-2001, our country, in particular our government, has changed to the point where I barely recognize it. What has disappeared in the last dozen years, we may never reclaim.


Days Gone By

My daughter was born in mid-2005, less than a month shy of the four-year anniversary of 9-11. I think back to those days after she was born, remembering the utmost glee I felt at having my newborn baby princess. I also recall thinking, "what kind of a world have I brought this sweet, innocent soul into? Can it get worse than what it has become now?"

 I look back into my own days of youth and innocence, and remember the things which no longer apply to childhood in the 21st century. Playing out in the neighborhood until dark like kids used to do has been replaced with play dates and video game marathons. Calling your pals on a corded phone in the kitchen has been pushed to the curb with texting on your smartphone, or tagging them in a Facebook status saying, "hmu (hit me up, for those old geezers like me) if you're bored." Monopoly has gone to the wayside, replaced by Halo, Angry Birds, and Minecraft.  Renting a movie at the Blockbuster video store is a thing of the past, superseded by Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Instant Video.

 What will change from her childhood by the time she is my age? What, besides those examples I listed above, may she never experience?  These changes are minor in comparison to some transformations which have altered the fundamental fabric of our country. 

 I remember when you could go to the airport and actually meet the person you were picking up at the gate. My daughter won't.

 I also remember when airport security didn't involve taking your shoes off, getting felt up by the TSA, or having your knitting needles or a tube of toothpaste confiscated as a possible weapon. My daughter won't.

I remember a time before the Department of Homeland Security and the PATRIOT Act, which seemed like a good idea at the time but has mutated into something ugly, not unlike the Gremlins that came from that cute and cuddly Gizmo. My daughter will not.

I remember when surveillance drones did not patrol the skies over our cities and at the border. My daughter will not.

 I remember when our President having the authority to craft a "kill list" of American citizens was the plot of a second-rate espionage novel at best, mad conspiracy at worst. She won't remember those days. 

I remember the times when the NSA was not the Boogeyman lurking over your virtual shoulder and storing data on every American citizen for no particular reason. My daughter won't.
There was a time when it was inconceivable that our President would commit a treasonous act and go to war on the side of the very same radicals who knocked down our World Trade Center and damaged our Pentagon. I remember those times. My daughter, I am sad to say, will not.

An Awakening

I could go on for pages and pages about the things that have changed since 9-11-2001. But here is the most important change of all - my own. Because of 9/11, my worldview is radically different than it was on 9-10-2001. I woke up out of my slumber and started paying attention to the world around me. I've studied history; I've read where we came from as a nation, and how we've gotten so horribly off track from the Founders' vision. I've learned the good and the bad that we've done. Divinely inspired things such as crafting the Constitution, trying to abolish slavery from the start of our nation through the 3/5th compromise, the Bill of Rights and many other great examples of our country's greatness. Conversely, there are unspeakably evil things committed by Americans, in society and government alike; manifest destiny, the slaughtering of Indians, slavery, the Fort Pillow Massacre, Emmett Till and other lynchings, of both blacks AND whites, internment camps during both world wars, etc. etc.


A New Beginning

It has been a long journey, but I became a Christian in 2010, somewhat due to 9-11, in a roundabout way. I am a sinner, saved by the amazing grace of Jesus Christ. Before my salvation, I was not someone that I was terribly proud of. I remember who I was before that--the anger, the bitterness, consuming the decent man that lived deeper inside of me, more deeply than I wanted. He was struggling to just stay afloat, let alone rise up from the darkness. That darkness in my spirit, thankfully, is less visible more and more every day I'm alive and living my faith. I'm not perfect, nor will I ever be perfect; Man is fallible. But I remember the man I used to be; hopefully, I pray, my daughter won't.