9-11 twenty-four years later in Hoboken

Today, a reflection on the terrorist event twenty-four years ago. Hoboken will hold a service, and some clergy will be invited to say their piece at Pier A. As long as they don't point out the actors on the planes and their religious affiliations too closely. 

Back when Dawn Zimmer was mayor, I attended one such service. A tall, handsome young man was speaking on behalf of Islam. He said the usual things about the terrorists, how they don't speak for or represent Islam. The rest was forgettable. 

After the service, I left Pier A and began slowly walking up Washington Street. Past Fifth Street, I noticed this same young man on Washington was standing in the middle of the block near the curb, approaching Sixth Street. He was amiably speaking to another young man. 

I paused, for a reason I don't recall. Maybe I was going to say hello, but I hesitated. In that moment, I could hear what he was saying to the other man. He was bragging about how he had deceived everyone at the 9-11 service. He was quite proud of how he snowed everyone and was clear that he didn't believe a word about what he had said before the crowd. 

Standing out of earshot, or so he thought, I looked at the young man. He was quite pleased with himself. This was less than a decade after 9-11, and he clearly felt he had achieved some objective, some goal in what he had done. 

That's not an accusation against others who practice Islam or individuals who voice differences with Islamicists. Many, many good people practice a peaceful form of Islam. A good number have paid with their lives for such disagreement. We rarely hear their names, but the list is very long and not distant in the past. It's in the present, from Afghanistan to Libya, the UK, and points all across Europe.

The victims of Islamicists are, first and foremost, the peaceful practitioners of Islam who refuse to join in with the extremists. 

Yesterday, we saw an earthquake in the US with the political assassination of Charlie Kirk. He was a man who spoke often of his love of America, his Christian faith, and invited any and all to discuss issues in open forums all across the country and on college campuses where speech isn't censored.

The right to speak an opinion, whether you agree or disagree, is a cornerstone of America and Western civilization. Have been hearing quite a few less Voltaires and more of the rigid voices denying God-given rights, the Constitution, who are eager to distract on behalf of their political ideology. We have fundamental enemies of liberty and America in our midst.

It's not simply distant nihilists online applauding and celebrating a political assassination yesterday. Some are being less than cagey with their utterances and attempted distractions. That's for another day.

More to come. 

The World Trade Center months before the 9-11 attack.
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