Sitting Ducks

“I can hear you, the rest of the world can hear you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” George W. Bush

Those words resonate with me as if they were just spoken.  I was not a follower of George Bush during the election, but on that fateful day he commanded my full attention.  I remember feeling very much as if this was the Pearl Harbor of my lifetime and I expected and counted on an equal response.  I wanted the people who did this (all the people) to hear loud and clear that they had messed with the wrong country!

But that never happened.  We shut down and circled the wagons for days.  Yes, our young men and women were positioned in Afghanistan, Iraq and wherever else they were sent to assist the people of those lands throughout the world.  A response was brewing, or so we all thought.

Eight years of George Bush and eight of Barack Obama and we find ourselves being chastised for not being inclusive enough.  We apologize for doing things that we have done in this country for decades (like serving pork in school lunches).  I would seriously like to know if we have lost our nerve entirely or if we are under the impression that the 19 people associated by name with this horrific attack were the isolated group that hated us?  Surely not.

I remember seeing the cheering faces on television across the world as the twin towers collapsed with thousands of Americans trapped inside.  What I do not understand is how our politicians have blocked this vision from memory? 

The response I was waiting for was this:

“…The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.
As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God…”  `Franklin D. Roosevelt  (Chan, 2018)

Sometime between 1945 and 2001 we lost our backbone.  We have all grown up so comfortably that we forgot that the nice kid in the schoolyard doesn’t get respected, he gets bullied.  We the people have spoken until we are blue!!!  We have taken our eyes off the ball and our country lies waiting for takeover similarly to the sitting duck during hunting season.  Please don’t tell me that I was born and raised in the land that protects freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom around the world, but I must now apologize for everything I think, say or do at home because it offends someone else claiming to have come here for a better life.  I may not have graduated from one of the top IVY league schools, but I’m capable of calling bull shit when I hear it.

And do not lie to yourselves and think that these random growing in number terrorist attacks are not part of one large orchestration implemented to instill fear in not just us but the entire world.  There is a mission schedule and it is being followed to the letter!  My one and only question is – whose plan is it?

I despise the idea of war.  But just because we do not want it does not mean it isn’t being brought to us on a platter.  We protect everyone in the world but ourselves.  It’s time!

To every single politician out there who thinks “I” should be more welcoming of the people who cheered that fateful day, I say this:  You are either part of the solution or you are part of the problem.  Lead, follow or get out of the way!

References:

Brainyquote, retrieved from the world wide web on March 19, 2019 from  https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/george_w_bush_142663

Chan, Melissa, Time.com, 12/6/18, retrieved from the world wide web on March 19, 2019 from http://time.com/4593483/pearl-harbor-franklin-roosevelt-infamy-speech-attack/