Flight 93 Memorial

Aug 27, 2017

My wife and I were recently traveling through the great state of Pennsylvania. While we were there, we noticed that the Flight 93 Memorial was just off the highway. On the spur of the moment, we decided to go. We have been to the 9-11 Memorial and Museum in DC, and I’ve driven past the Pentagon a hundred times, so now I’ve been to the site of all four terrorist attacks on America that awful day in September of 2001.

The memorial and museum is stark and moving, as it should be. There are outer walls that actually trace the final flight of the plane as it crashed in the field near Shanksville. I was surprised as we went through the very moving scenes in the museum–they were very blunt in admitting that the terrorists were Islamic jihadist fanatics. (Isn’t that interesting. I am actually pleasantly surprised in this day and age when someone tells the truth about Islamic terrorism and is not afraid to name it. What does that say about our country today and the poison of political correctness?)

But, as we milled around, I noticed most of the people were “older”–anywhere from mid-40’s to senior citizen. Some in their 20’s and 30’s. Then there were the “kids”– those in their early 20’s and teens, then several who were much younger. It dawned on me. The ones who were 21 or younger had no memory of what happened that day. They don’t know how or why we were attacked. And unless some brave soul teaches them about Islamic jihadism, then they will grow up not knowing or understanding the threat we face.

We see our collective national memory steadily being erased all around us. How much longer before political correctness attacks even these modest (but truthful) monuments to what happened not that long ago?