Falling

{reprinted from a post originally written here on September 11th,2005.   11 years later, I can't think of any way to say it better.  Sometimes I cringe at my prose - which I believe, at least, has improved with time - but to change it would be to sully it.  So here it is, a picture and a thousand words... }

This photo, for me, is the most haunting visual from September 11th. This man went to work that beautiful Tuesday morning, perhaps kissed his wife and children goodbye, and soon was faced with a choice presented to him by Islamic terrorists: To die by fire, or to die by falling.

What went through his mind as he pondered his options? Was there ever the hope he could survive the 100-odd story fall? Or was this the American version of the ancient Israelites' Masada, where they fell on their swords rather than be taken by the Roman enemy? Did he chose to take his own life in a defiant plunge rather than burn in his enemy's fire?

We'll never know, and it doesn't really matter anyway. What matters is that in his death, Falling Man did something meaningful, something great. He shows us, in the starkest terms, the choices being offered to us by the Islamic enemy. Peace and friendship are not present in this photograph, nor is the possibility of future existence. The only choice being offered by the Muslim Terrorist is the method by which our lives are to be ended to serve their dream of an Islamist globe.

I look at this photo and wonder how many Americans will be faced with this man's choice in the future. After 9/11, we said Never Again and Never Forget, but with the help of the liberals and their lackeys in the media the horror of that day is being sanitized, equivalized, and minimized. Will it soon be taught that Falling Man's death was, in actuality, his own fault?

We must fight. Now. In the Middle East and wherever the terrorist calls his turf, lest he return to our soil to perpetrate his hatred again. We must ignore the sweet siren call of the Left, calling for acquiescence and appeasement with those whom want our blood. Let us turn away from the weakness of "understanding" our enemies; for I do not want the poisonous ideology of those whom caused my friend to jump to ever enter my soul.

There is right and wrong. There is good and evil. Those whom refuse to define it do not know the difference, and their morality (or lack of it) will eventually kill them.

I will define it; I will call a thing what it is, political correctness be damned. I was there; an eyewitness; I watched the buildings fall and heard the people scream; I saw more funerals at a young age then I ever imagined possible. The cry of the bagpipes echos in my head, and forever chills my heart.

Falling Man, again. He made a moral choice that turned into a symbol for September 11th. In the face of our enemy, we are all faced with a similar choice. Fight with whatever we have, or be consumed in his flames. Not happy choices, but neither were his. We cannot chose the times we are given to live in, we can only chose what we do with that time.

Let us chose wisely, then. On a day that we mourn the slaughter of thousands of innocent Americans, it is incumbent upon us to Never Forget, and to do all in our power to make sure this never happens again. Lest our generation be cursed by those that follow.

May God bless and keep the souls of those whom perished on this fateful day.  And may our actions never bring shame to their memory...