Remembering Patriots Day

I was too young to fully understand what was going on, but I remember seeing the images on the television screen; my parents didn't want me to see, but I clearly recall tip-toeing down the stairs late at night and peering over the railing to look: the flames, the smoke, the imploding skyscraper, the terrified faces.  My family was at my grandparents’ vacation home in Canada, enjoying the woods, the lake, the off-roading, the fishing, the countless games of marbles, the mosquito bites… By the eleventh of September, we were preparing to head home; but we couldn’t, for obvious reasons—well, not so obvious to me, aged five, or my brother, three years my junior.  We stayed in Canada to celebrate my brother’s second birthday on September 16^th, and both of us were thrilled to have more time with our grandparents.  All I understood was that someone had done something terrible to America, and the doors to the country were closed.  I realized years later that my life, my brother’s life, and the life of every American, were changed that day; but at the time, in childlike innocence—or ignorance—I wasn’t afraid or angry because, except for those seemingly distant images on the screen, my own little world remained undisturbed.

CCU's Main Campus

I could use today as an excuse to give a detailed analysis of the history and motives of Islamic Jihad under Sharia Law, scare your pants off with some troubling facts about civilizational Jihad in America, lay out a practical policy approach to defeating terrorism at home and abroad, or relive that horrific day from a historical perspective; instead, let’s simply consider why that day was so significant.  Flags fly at half-mast across the nation.  The quad at Colorado Christian University’s main campus is filled with tiny American flags—2,977 flags, in honor of the 2,977 Americans that perished on this day thirteen years ago; the weather is appropriately dreary here in Lakewood, Colorado.  Why do we honor this day?  Why did we go to war in the Middle East to avenge the 9/11 attacks?  What are we fighting for?

In December of 2001, Congress designated September 11 “Patriots Day.”  Think about what that means.  Everyone likes to put on their red, white, and blue—their “patriotic” colors—on Independence Day, go to the parade, barbecue, and watch fireworks, but how many really know what it means to be a patriot?  Patriotism does not mean, “my country, right or wrong,” and certainly not, “my government, right or wrong.”  Patriotism means believing in the principles upon which this country was founded, and fighting to keep them foremost in the governance of our nation.  By that definition, true patriots seem hard to come by these days. 

America was not founded on Christianity.  Not all of our founding fathers were Christians, as some might claim.  But please do not contend that this nation was not founded on Christian principles. A small government intended simply to uphold rule of law, economic policies that promote opportunity and encourage individual responsibility, separation of church and state—not to protect the government from religion but to protect religion from the government—and a citizenry with virtue, information, and a voice to protect personal freedom: these are America’s core characteristics, and the common threads are personal morality and a belief in the inherent worth of every individual.  The cornerstone of America is an objective moral standard—a kind of moral standard that is found only in Christianity.  Christianity is the only belief system that values people for people, and without that, what is liberty, justice, equality, or the pursuit of happiness?  Those values are what made America mighty.  That is why we fight.  That is why we remember Patriots Day.