It wouldn't make any sense to put happy in front of anniversary today would it?
 
I remember it well.  I was on my daily drop off routine with my 2 and 4 year-olds, now 8 and 10, boy did that time ever fly.  I was listening to some author being interviewed about his new book on WPR.  He interrupted his own interview to ask the interviewer, not the other way around, if she was watching CNN because a plane just hit one of the World Trade Towers.  She said no but wondered if it was somehow related to the story of a few weeks before where a hang glider, or other small aircraft collided into the UN, or was it the Empire State Building?  I remembered that story too and, though weird, it turned out to be comparatively inconsequential.   

I had to get out of the car to walk the daughter in and sign her in for the day.  I came back out to continue the drop off route by taking my son to K-4 at another building, about 2 miles away.  In that time the second plane hit the second tower and the interviewer, interviewee, myself, and countless others suddenly realized the world we knew when we woke up was never going to be the same.

Like most of America my emotions were a mixture of disbelief, anger, confusion, frustration, and helplessness.  Americans are not accustomed to feeling vulnerable so this was all very new. On the drive home I did a mental inventory of how much ammo I had on hand and endured conflicting emotions of both wanting and not wanting to use it on someone.  I also remember feeling glad to be in the anonymous heartland, certainly no terrorist priority target.  Yes, Milwaukee is no New York, and today, that was just fine.

I got a phone call from my neighbor when i got home and as we watched TV the news came in about the Pentagon and a fourth errant jetliner heading toward DC.  The dreadful suspicion was confirmed beyond denial, we were under attack.  This time, I physically inspected my guns and ammo.    

I hung up and kept watching the chain of events unfold  - - and the first tower fell.  The very idea that someone somehow could possibly justify premediated mass murder, on any grounds, left me with such a pitiful feeling for the state of mankind that all I could do was weep.  The tears have long since dried but so long as there are terrorists willing to perpetrate such heinous acts the stomach-pit feeling persists.  That there are many lefty sympathizers who are more willing to guarantee them constitutional rights they do not have and treaty provisions they have not signed onto doesn't help any.    

A lot has happened in the meantime but we should be sure to recognize, and appreciate, something far more significant, something that didn't happen - - subsequent attacks.   No one thought for a second those would be the only attacks we would sustain.  We were all waiting for the other shoe to drop and here, 6 years later, we are still waiting.  So long as that remains the case, regardless of his performance in every other regard, that will be the legacy of George W. Bush.  Irony of ironies is that appeasers point to this as proof those acts were not acts of war but simply isolated crimes.  The first stage of grief is denial and it appears some are destined, and quite content, to reside there forever.   

The ensuing debate has taken many twists and turns and I am very happy to see that my prediction of our insatiable lust for instant gratification leading to our downfall has not come to pass - - so far that is, they've been at war with us since 1979 while we have only been actively engaged since 2001.  Through a combination of pure cussedness of the administration, utterly feckless leadership of his political opposition, and mostly silent resolve of the American people we are still in this fight. 

It is sad that when we are in a war and need steadfast leadership most the longest term thinking the left half of this political class can muster is the next election.  The right on the other hand is summed up quite admirably by the refreshing candor of John McCain who said winning the election is not worth losing the war.       

Where Bush is concerned, having a President unencumbered by the concerns of his next election able to act in what he believes is the best interest of our country is going almost entirely unappreciated.  If ever there was a case to be made on the advantages of a lame duck this example would have to top the list.  In fact it might be the strongest argument in favor of across the board term limits never made.  

Such is the sausage of democracy in practice and when you step back and look, you don't have to love it, but you have to respect it.  Think about this.  The extremes of either side from before 9/11 have gotten even more so, to the point where Cindy Sheehan is the face of one and David Patreaus the other.  And, amazingly, somehow from this mixture we are not only surviving but finally succeeding.   It really makes one wonder what we might accomplish if these extremes ever decided to work together.