Since September 11, 2001, we’ve “only” had 546 terrorism attacks on U.S. soil. That’s according to data from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. The body count — apparently the ultimate determinant of whether an attack was successful or not– has been far less than the 2,977 who died in the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, or in a 35-foot deep hole in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Only those in Shanksville had an opportunity to resist, and they took it. Knowing they weren’t likely to survive, they chose action over inaction. Their actions were diametrically opposed to the prevailing policy of dealing with terrorists before that September morning.
Prior to 9/11, hijacking doctrine called for calm compliance with hijackers and a willingness for the crew to take them where they wanted to go. That strategy had peacefully resolved dozens of prior incidents. It may seem naive today, but before 9/11, hijackers weren’t looking to turn airliners into missiles carrying 20,000 pounds of explosive fuel. Nineteen Al Qaeda terrorists literally turned the world on its head with their suicide tactics.
Their weapons of choice that day that allowed them to take control of the planes? Small knives and box cutters smuggled through airport security. It wasn’t the weapons, it was their willingness to use them that mattered.
What have we learned since that fateful morning? Not a lot. As a nation, we appear willfully ignorant about the people and groups that mean us harm. But it’s not what we’ve learned that’s most concerning. It’s what we’ve forgotten. We’ve forgotten that evil is real. We’ve forgotten that bad people will do bad things, without regard to the consequences.
Alarmingly, it seems many of us ignore the simple fact that the people who died on 9/11 and the 546 who have died since then were no different from the rest of us. They had lives, hopes, and aspirations, all cut short by evil. They each left families devastated by actions that are inexplicable to normal people.
Most alarmingly, we appear to have lost the ability to tell right from wrong. There is no “your truth” or “my truth,” there is only the truth. The truth is, excusing evil deeds, whatever the rationale, is inviting evil to teach yet another lesson.
Evil seldom declines that sort of invitation. That’s something we should all remember on this solemn anniversary.
All Evil needs to be successful is for good people to do nothing to stop it. nuff said.
…and that seems to be happening a lot lately.