9-11-2001: One American Eight Years Later

We forget that Islam attacked America on September 11th of 2001.

3,000 American lives were lost that day. First estimates indicated that, due to the number of persons customarily occupying those buildings early in the morning, upwards of 50,000 Americans could theoretically have been killed. It was by the sheerest dint of luck that this didn't occur.

3,000 or 300,000 -- Islam would have killed as many as humanly possible that day, to include the entire Pentagon and our nation's Capitol.

And yet, only after 9/11 did we as a nation begin focusing on the rights and existence of Muslims. Why is that?

What happened to the rights of the man above?

Did he wake up that Tuesday morning thinking he would be left with no alternative to his life but jumping out some window or ragged hole made by the trauma of an aircraft impacting his place of work?

And yet, there he is, clothed, dark pants, light shirt, dark shoes -- jumping -- head-first towards what he knows to be concrete below.

What he knows to be his death below.

And so what was his alternative? Scalding strips of flesh hanging from his arms? An onrushing flash flame created by burning Jet A fuel?

Is that a decision at all?

To my knowledge no one has yet determined the identity of this man. And yet he clearly had a family and a name and a past and parents and possibly children.

And but for today, he is primarily forgotten.

THAT, you see, is our national legacy.

Eight years later.

BZ