9/11, the National Crisis and Three Canadian Ladies’ Response
I met an elderly lady at a birthday party the other night. Canadian by birth, she and her two sisters have lived in the lower-forty-eight for forty-seven years; but never became citizens. Until two days ago, that is.
That’s right, this year’s September 11, more than a decade removed from those abominable 9/11 attacks but remaining a solemn, even a civilly sacred day — these three grande dames were sworn in as freshly-minted Americans.
“I’m doing it so that I can vote against Obama.” one of them volunteered. “I’m doing it for my grandchildren.”
When we contemplate the dewy-eyed, mouths-hanging-ajar catechumens who stood transfixed at last week’s Dem confab while the incumbent and his acolytes roared and gesticulated about the Great Obama, we musn’t forget the quieter, less theatrical stories like the one framed by this Canadian lady.
Barack Obama doesn’t only catapult people into enraptured swooning, you see. He effects some of us in another way: inspiring determination to see our nation guided back to those principles which once made us the jewel of the planet; steeling our resolve to see the White House, Congress, our courts returned to some semblance of Constitutional decency; provoking us – in the best sense of that word – to take necessary steps we have, perhaps, been putting off too long. Putting off for forty seven years, perhaps.
Another fellow I know, who’d been quite politically active as a younger man but who had largely drawn back from his activism more recently, was spurred back into the arena a year or so ago. Groaning under the first twenty four months or so of this administration’s noxiousness was motivation enough to get him back on the horse. So he did just that; and has played a significant and fruitful, albeit costly and time-consuming, part in guaranteeing Barack Obama is challenged in 2012.
On this eleventh commemoration of the WTC/Pentagon/Shanksville, PA horrors let us recall that it’s not only terror or other kinds of physically violent attacks that imperil America. There is the violence of fundamentally bad ideas to be concerned about, as well.
And Barack Obama crystallizes, it seems, about every fundamentally bad idea that currently matters. From the collapse of a meaningful Judeo-Christian heritage, to barely disguised enthusiasm for killing unborn children, to the mainstreaming of sexual perversion, to disregard for our founding documents, ideals and history, to Marxist-toned economics, to appeals to the worst in humanity (envy, slothfulness, racialism, classism), Barack Obama placards values that, flatly, will bring down our great land as surely – if more incrementally – as those diabolical aircraft took down a pair of skyscraping New York City landmarks earlier in this still young century.
Tears shed this September 11, victim’s names read from a roll, moments of silence are all appropriate responses. But I can think of few finer ways to memorialize the enormities of 9/11 than resolving to act specifically, resolutely, pragmatically to rescue America from her present, woeful trajectory: convince a neighbor or family member to support rationale, God-fearing, Constitution-favoring candidates. Defy the soggy strictures of political correctness: discuss important cultural and political matters with people — and make the case unapologetically and winsomely for conservative ideals. Write letters to the editor, post your thoughts on web- and blog -sites — supply a voice for the traditionalist, limited-government, ordered-liberty-loving philosophy. It goes without saying, register to vote yourself; and inform yourself so you can do your duty in November, throwing your weight behind those who share your convictions. Pray for the nation, of course, more than ever, with determined consistency and focus.
Maybe it took a Barack Obama presidency to awaken decent but busily distracted folks to the responsibility of doing things we all should have been doing all along. Maybe much of our current predicament could have been pre-empted had many more of us chosen pro-active vigilance a long time ago.
Still, maybe, it’s not too late to do something right now that will turn things around. Goaded into redemptive response by the current Radical-in-Chief and his accessories; roused into action by the jihadist cretins who violated our nation on that Tuesday morning eleven years ago; fired by a desire to honor those who perished on that black morning, and the resolve that it will never happen again — God-and-Country loving Americans can still make a difference. Maybe.
Apparently, a trio of elderly ladies from our northern neighbor have gotten the point. They’ll be baptizing their just-won US citizenship by casting November 6th ballots; which will provide three votes at least toward the restoration of their new country. If a majority of their fellow Americans follows suit, we’ll be on the way — hopeful, but with lots more work ahead of us.
Image: July 4, 2007 naturalization ceremony aboard USS Constitution; courtesy of U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Eric Brown; public domain
