9/11 and Forgiveness

frOn a certain day in the very recent past, before the sun had melted the morning into afternoon, I had been told three times that forgiveness was the order of the day for this upcoming 13th anniversary of 9/11.  Once was by the carnival barker/news anchor on the television.  I heard it for the second time by a teenager in a television commercial, urging his fellow citizens to commit “acts of service” as a means of remembrance.  Lastly, a sign on the marquis outside a church I drove past read, “Remember, but Forgive.”

It has always been a difficult concept for a hothead like me to grasp, this forgiveness thing. I know Jesus would, but I’m no Jesus.  To me, forgiveness is something bestowed on those who erred unintentionally, or through a lapse in judgment, not for those who acted out of a malicious intent to harm or kill.  I can’t fathom forgiving the rapist of a child or the savage murderer of the innocent and helpless.  It is a good thing that I am not all-powerful, because I would make for a terribly vengeful god.

It was a beautiful day on which I wrote this. The sky was crystalline blue; the air was clear, with a whisper of the coolness of approaching fall.  In fact, it was a near-carbon copy of the weather from thirteen years earlier.  I remember watching the warplanes buzzing over my city like angry hornets on that day, to and fro, with armaments hanging menacingly from their wings.  Only later would I discover that they were performing an over-watch operation, guarding the airspace above the military base south of town, where President George W. Bush had just landed in Air Force One.

I come from a military family and am a veteran myself.  I understand the nature of conflict, and the reasons to avoid it, if possible.  I also realize that conflict is often unavoidable, and at times even preferable to maintaining the status quo.

After the brutal assault we suffered on 9/11/01, we could have maintained our usual pattern of treating terrorism as a police matter and launched an international investigation.  Or we could have followed the fetid and worn advice of the appeasers (who tell us everything is our fault) and simply offered money or a new aid program to assuage the perpetrators of this attack.  Instead, we chose war, and properly so.

Now that the 13th anniversary is here, I don’t feel the catharsis the media tells me I should have experienced by now.  I must be a barbaric freak – some war-loving monkey with a cylindrical brain that recycles the same hatred over and over again, tumbling it like compost until it steams.  I’m supposed to forgive, and even, according to some commentators from the left, forget that 9/11 happened.  To “get over ourselves,” as the “enlightened” opine.

It finally occurred to me, though, why I couldn’t get right with this whole “forgiveness” theme.  It struck me why I bristled at the suggestion by President Obama that we declare 9/11 a “day of service,” casting about for volunteer opportunities as a way of honoring our dead.  The unrest in my heart was not courtesy of 9/11 itself; it was the tainting of the victory America deserved and earned after 9/11 that spawned my ill ease.

In times past, our remembrances have been predicated on victory, whole and entire.  Such victories are the necessary resolutions of violent conflict.  No one celebrates a stalemate, much less a loss.  WWII was solid.  We won.  Polio was solid.  We beat that, too.  In the Civil War, we lamented the terrible price our countrymen paid, but we celebrated the ultimate supremacy of our Union, and built ever higher on that hard-won foundation.

The War on Terror, like Vietnam, has emerged muddled and unclear, seemingly by design. It is precisely this feeling that the left seeks to engender in us: a sense of haplessness – to have us view our defense as a burden of care that we can’t wait to lay down.

I don’t want to lay down that burden.  I’m not looking for closure.  I want to fight.  I want to ratchet up the retribution until the very ground our enemy stands upon screams its submission, and the air itself cracks with the blast of our righteous vengeance.  Our blood-earned victory has been stolen — and I want it back.

I want those who preach the politics of defeat and appeasement to find themselves shunned at every turn by those of us who still believe that America fights when America is right – and that to accept anything short of victory is to dishonor the sacrifice of the dead and wounded.

War is an ugly and repulsive thing, but it is not as ugly and repulsive as the coward who would lick the hand of his master and thank him for beating him less today than the day before.  America has changed the world in unprecedented ways.  We have shown the common souls of this earth that they are possessed of an inherent worth, granted by a force mightier than any government, and not subject to the whims and designs of men.

Despite our successes, or perhaps because of them, the brutish of the world are fighting back.  Never forget: the default position of humanity has always been brutal oppression and savage war.  America and the ideals of its founding have done more to change that than anything else, save Christianity.

The left wishes us to accept less than winning.  We aren’t any better than all the other nations of the earth, they tell us.  Well, I think that those on the left are right: they aren’t any better than all the other nations, but the rest of us are, and we intend to raise a standard to which the righteous and patriotic may aspire.  I say fight on, against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

The “parade marshal” of the American left, Barack Obama, marches proudly toward an alternative vision of our nation, leading those who fail to recognize that our strength is built upon action, not apology – goodness in the deed, not merely the intention.

We have earned our victory.  We deserve it as a nation and as a people, and I intend to mark the anniversary of 9/11 with martial pride and a hearty thump of the chest.  Let 9/11 be a day of service for those inclined to servitude.  For me, it will always be a reminder that our safety is only as sure as our strength.  To God the glory; to the rest of us, Semper Fidelis!

Joe Herring writes from Omaha, Nebraska and welcomes visitors to his website at www.readmorejoe.com. He is the communications director for the Global Faith Institute

  • JacksonPearson

    God Bless, and Rest In Peace.

  • objectivefactsmatter

    Closure comes after the barn door is closed, not before. You don’t seek “closure” when the bulls are running through your living room.

  • objectivefactsmatter

    “Democracy’s great recent successes–in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, and other great free nations — show that our confidence in this system is not misplaced. Being confident of our own future, we are now free of that inordinate fear of extremist religionists and workplace violence which once led us to embrace any dictator who joined us in that fear. I’m glad that that’s being changed.”

  • mollysdad

    The way to go is to affirm the biblical truth at Exodus 17.

    On one side are Muslims in jihad against Jews and Christians, and all other non-Muslims.

    On the other side is God Himself, and he commands the nations to wage holy war for the destruction of His belligerent enemies.

    Convert or die.

  • DaCoachK

    The Left is nothing but a bunch of cowards. Starting with the “worst-est” generation–the Woodstock crowd–that shirked its responsibility in Vietnam and continuing to the current day cowards lined up at legal weed shops. America was a great country, but its demise began in the 1960s with that God-awful spawn of the Greatest Generation. We are not a great nation anymore because we are trying to bend over backwards to be like European socialists.This nation can’t win another war like we saw in WWII. The great experiment is over, and the USA is not coming back. But hey, freeloaders have healthcare and homos can pretend to be married.

    • Rosasolis

      I know how you feel! But don’t say that all of us Europeans are leftist socialists! Read more about conservatives who have the most
      votes in our parliament, in Netherlands. This country will no longer
      tolerate Jihad violence. And will never accept communism! Our conservative government has recently passed
      the law to control Islamic aggression, in the Lower as well as the Upper Parliament.
      Your current socialist/communist government (the Democrates) has forced America
      to become a 3rd world country And they placed your president as their
      representative to strengthen THEIR leftist ideals and plans!! Obama has Never shown any interest in Europe until recently.
      And only because of the problems in Ukraine. He and his government
      are not interested in the growing dangers of the Islam
      throughout whole Europe.

  • http://tinatrent.com/ Tina Trent

    The “vengeance accusation” that is a meme of the Left actually bears little resemblance to reactions like this, Joe. I have little doubt that when confronted with your faith or the individual imperative to show mercy to someone who has wronged you, you behave with compassion and ethics.

    What you’re responding to here is neither faith nor metaphysics, but politics, and I applaud your clear-headed refusal to be silenced by a politics that actually demands submission to politics under the guise of “service,” “tolerance,” “understanding,” and “forgiveness.”

    Before the Nazis chopped off her head and threw her off a bridge, Rosa Luxenburg, quoting a rabbi, I think, observed the significant difference between being truth’s lover and truth’s pimp. This is one of those occasions, with the Leftist in the White House pimping 9/11 as people like you actually express love — of country, of the victimized — by cutting through false sentiment to the truth. Thanks for writing this.

    • Ziggy46

      Extremely well said, Tina.

    • Joe Herring

      You’re welcome. Thank you for reading it.

    • aspacia

      In the 80′s I researched Luxenberg and according to this research she was beaten to death not beheaded. Two German university students protesting the Nazis were guillotined, but not the 4’11, handicapped Luxenberg.

  • Elizabeth capecod

    The thought that anyone should forgive those who have no remorse or repentance and who continue to wage terror and carnage daily…..is insane.

    Leftists would forgive terrorists sooner than they would forgive Tea Partiers.

    • Ziggy46

      “Leftists would forgive terrorists sooner than they would forgive Tea Partiers.”

      Sadly, you are absolutely right, Elizabeth. There is such a great schism in this nation, because of the elitist perceptions and warped sense of entitlement held by leftists. Anyone, even a smidgen, right of center is deemed of a lower order by the aforementioned.

      • aspacia

        Do not worry as Andy Jackson cause a huge rift in our land, and Adams and Jefferson were not fond of each other.

  • Gee

    I will forgive the Germans when they make amends and bring back to life the 6 million Jews they murdered. I will forgive Islam for 9/11 when those 3,000 people are alive again.

    • Atikva

      You are right. Only the victims could forgive the harm done to them, the survivors who “forgive” assume a right that is not theirs.

  • Debbie G

    Mr. Herring, you’re making me cry. But I’m with you all the way.

    • Joe Herring

      I’m glad you were moved by my piece. I appreciate your kind words,

      • aspacia

        Forgive those who as for forgiveness and repent.

  • Rosasolis

    Excellent article which I hope many people in our Western World will read..
    Although time goes on, how can we ever forget the terrible events which
    shocked the world 13 years ago. It seems like yesterday. But as usual, the
    Media TV and Radio seem to want to convince us that this day is now for
    historical importance, and is “old news”. They are not devoting much interest
    anymore to 9 – 11, which SHOULD be more than ever ACTUAL News!
    While the problems with the Islamic terrorism is growing everyday throughout
    cities all over Europe, we can no longer let them misuse the tolerance we have
    shown to so many Islamic families during the past 25 years!
    Their Jihad Riots are now occuring every weekend, and besides this, there
    are so many problems which are ony worsening, because of the growth
    of large groups of uneducated and unemployed young men,
    (school drop-outs)…who are an easy target for the mosques
    to send them to Middle-east countries to be trained for the Jihad!
    Since our government has recently taken steps to control terrorism in
    Netherlands, they have been threatening this country….(which has provided
    their families with care, homes, and work for so many years), with the most
    terrible crimes you can imagine! Soon they will be targeting North-America.
    Because your daily lives may still be peaceful and normal….you folks should
    become aware that the Islamic terror is growing rapidly in Europe, and that
    our well-known old cities are no longer safe! Young people should learn
    more about this day, now 13 years ago!

  • sprinklerman

    Several years ago when there was so many in Congress who wished us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, I saw and kept the following letter to the editor. I think that Mr. Herring would agree with the sentiments.
    “Those who served in the Korean War or Vietnam will fully understand what I write. There is an unstated, but clearly understood promise that our government will send our armed forces to war only if it wants us to win. That promise to allow the end result to be victory is sealed in blood the moment the first American combatant is killed. From that instant the promise is irrevocable, regardless of the miscalculations of the government, the resources spent, the casualties suffered or the strident dissent of those who want their five minutes of fame.
    The time for debate is before the first tank crosses the line, not after. The moment for public dissent is before the first casualty is incurred, not after. The time for Congress to oppose a war is before it starts, not while it is being waged.
    No words now spoken by Congress can erase the fact that those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan were promised that they would be allowed to win. The trust we place in our government demands that that promise is not smothered by empty rhetoric and party demagoguery. This time, Congress either owes them a chance to win, or it owes us an apology. John J. Kauza, Pittstown.”
    As far as forgiving…that’s something that I do when I’m ready not when others tell me to. I’m not ready yet and as far as a day of service, I’ve been doing so all my life Mr. President. Haven’t seen you anywhere near me anytime I’ve been out doing so.

  • Atikva

    Before forgiving… whoever, let’s thoroughly defeat and maul the revolting savages who perpetrated not only 9/11, but a long series of atrocities starting in modern times with the Munich, Beslan, Maalot, Madrid, London, Toulouse, Mumbai, Iraq, Syria etc.. and let’s push them back into their hole. “Vengeance is mine saith the Lord”, and He will use some of us as His instrument. Self-defense and the protection of our brothers is a duty, whereas suicide is a mortal sin.

    Once this task is accomplished, those who care may sort out between the vanquished absolute savages and those who let them be absolute savages and choose to forgive either one or both of them – personally, I am not interested.

  • Michael

    Sort of reminds me of a comment ascribed to General John Joseph “Black Jack” Pershing. Pershing reportedly said that the Allies in WW1 should not settle for an armistice, but should rather march into Berlin as a conquering army. Failure to do so, would result in the allies needing to “…come back in 20 years and do this all over again.”

    When the Axis powers were defeated in 1945, the KNEW they were beaten. To fight a war, it’s necessary to kill, people, break their things, and render them incapable of striking back. If you don’t have the will to do that, you aren’t going to win. King Putt needs to understand troops on the group WILL be necessary.

  • plenty

    9/11 was indeed a horrific assault on the sensibilities of all Americans. However, the destruction of Iraq, a country that was proven to have zero responsibility for 9/11, one must question motives of the Neo-Con reign of Bush the Son, the constant lies, false terrorist warnings, and fear mongering propaganda which spewed like blood from a eternal fountain. I marvel at the Neo-Cons fervent embrace of Bush
    the Son even after or in-spite of the latter’s stripping of American
    Civil Liberties and gutting the Bill of Rights through the Imposition of the Orwellian Patriot Act, all the while professing the Act was “needed” to protect those rights, while creating the large liberty crushing “Homeland Security” Gestapo.

    • JB Ziggy Zoggy

      Yesterday was the wrong day to have been wearing your tinfoil hat, whackjob. Instead of mourning Iraq and your imaginary loss of rights and civil liberties, why didn’t you suppress your Bush Derangement Syndrome for one damned day and thank him for having had so many islamopithecine terrorists killed in Iraq and Afghanistan?

      Now the ISIS terrorists have carved out a caliphate in Iraq, and the taliban are taking back Afghanistan. And here you are sniveling about islam and Bush like that treasonous coward Obama, who actually does use DHS and every other government agency to persecute American dissidents while he aids and excuses islam all around the world. Why don’t you write some comments about bombing ISIS into paste? Write them to your local Representatives. Do something sane and useful.

  • Pete

    It has been pointed out that you should not forgive those are are still engaged in the act nor show no contrition.

    Should you forgive a spree killer, while he is still active?

    • Joe Herring

      Absolutely not. To do so is to legitimize their crime.

  • wileyvet

    I extend forgiveness to those that understand what they have done is wrong, and wish to be forgiven. Muslims do not seek forgiveness. In fact Islam deems it perfectly acceptable to commit heinous acts on anyone that rejects Allah and Muhammad as the prophet. Anything and everything that is an impediment to Islam spreading and ruling the earth is a legitimate target, including women, children, the aged and infirmed if deemed aiding the enemy of Islam. Islam also believes that such killing is a mercy on those that reject the faith. So no, I will not forgive Muslims for their assault on America. The same faith that drove Atta and the rest of the scum is the same that originated in Mecca, and perfected in Medina 1400 years ago. It is the same as preached in every Mosque in the world, and understood by the Muslim Ummah. They know what Islam is. Jihad, Holy War to further the spread of Islam against Kafir, is the sixth pillar of Islam, and historically has always meant that, just not codified as such, because that would be a dead give away as to Islam’s true nature. The adherents of Islam are obligated to wage war once the call to Islam has been rejected. Therefore those countries that wish to remain free and liberal democracies shall never have peace with Muslims. This will continue as it has for 14 centuries, driven by the doctrine created and implemented by Muhammad and been the impetus of ALL Islamic imperialism and aggression until the present. If we are to remain truly free, then we must fight against the totalitarian, supremacist ideology that is Islam but truly understanding what it is, and exposing it. Muslim sensitivities be damned.

  • cree

    I’ve been of the same mind Joe. The key thing mentioned is forgiveness is “not for those who acted out of a malicious intent to harm or kill.” In other words, you don’t deny evil, you do all you can to eradicate it, period. That, by the way, is not anti-God. The Bible is filled with the concept. Think even: why didn’t God allow Judas to be spared? Betrayal would cause Jesus to be falsely condemned. And Judas knew it; he thinking (ignoring Jesus’ words that He would die) he understood better and he would order the course of events to force Jesus to retaliate and become (an earthly) king? Evil has consequences.

    I deduce that Jesus’ teachings were to prevent evil intent towards others from taking over mind and soul. Have evil, unreasonable people considered Jesus’ instruction towards good will towards man or forgiveness? What does Islam teach?

    God adjudicated evil at the cross. It’s up to man to accept or not the sentence (man has always had free choice).

    It is my belief because history supports it, at times, God uses righteousness in man to administer justice by war against evil. (The group of Noah’s eight wouldn’t have been able to do it.)

  • bob e

    god bless America

  • Joe Herring

    You’re welcome. This was a piece that was easy to write, I simply spilled my guts.

    • pinnie

      You spoke for me … I haven’t any forgiveness for these barbarians….You just put it very well and clearly. You wrote .. Im not Jesus, I know that feeling very well.
      The vile money changers of the Temple, disturbed and enraged Jesus. He had no pity for them…just disgust. These vile animals enrage me, disgust me.
      I don’t care how or when Sir, I just pray they be annihilated…. just let it be done.

  • http://www.stubbornthings.org NAHALKIDES

    Fine essay.

  • Upaces

    This is THE most important article I have EVER read on “Forgiveness.”

    Forgive the terrorists?

    By Rabbi Benjamin Blech

    “To err is human, to forgive, divine,” said Alexander Pope. But where do the 9-11 terrorists fit in? A prominent rabbinic thinker addresses, perhaps, one of the most difficult theological questions of the tragic episode

    G-d, I need your guidance. I grieve for all the victims of September 11th. My heart is filled with pain, and with anger at the terrorists responsible for the horrible crimes committed on that day. But I know that you teach us to forgive those who sin. In the Bible you often tell us that you are a G-d who is slow to anger, merciful and forgiving. We are supposed to imitate you and adopt Your behavior as guidelines for our own personal conduct. Does that really mean that no matter how difficult it is, I have to tell myself to forgive all those who turned the twin towers into a mass graveyard? Am I guilty of failing my spiritual obligations if I’m not willing to respond to terrorism with love and forgiveness? G-d, how far does clemency go? In the name of religion, must I be prepared to pardon even those who committed murder?

    Forgiveness is a divine trait. It defines the goodness of G-d. Without it human beings probably couldn’t survive. Because G-d forgives, there’s still hope for sinners. When we do wrong, G-d reassures us that he won’t abandon us as a result of our transgressions. Divine forgiveness is the quality that most clearly proves G-d’s love for us.

    To forgive such a person isn’t kindness; its cruelty to all those who’ll be hurt by the evil that wasn’t stopped before it could do more harm.

    (I skipped some):..continue reading:

    http://jewishworldreview.com/0911/love_terrorists.php3

  • http://www.sieuthihangnhapkhau.net/danh-muc-san-pham/thuoc-moc-toc-biotin/ hanh nguyen

    God bless all of you

    Xơ gan

  • Joe Herring

    The Muslim Brotherhood is the prime mover behind the increase in violence and supremacist behavior. They operate through a great many front groups in nations around the world, of which CAIR (the Council on American/Islamic Relations) and ISNA (the Islamic Society of North America) are most vocal and active here in America.

    The Muslim Students Association, HAMAS, al-Qaeda, ISIS and are all sponsored and founded by the MB. They are the umbrella organization you are looking for.

  • http://rodmartinjr.com Rod Martin, Jr.

    Most people don’t know this, yet, but 9/11 was an inside job. Some find this hard to swallow, because America is the land of the free and home of the brave. Ego and pride blind us all, at times.

    But it’s obvious that solid steel never, ever offers zero resistance to collapse. Yet, on the afternoon of 9/11 a third building collapsed. This time, the first 8 floors of collapse were at perfect free fall. Solid steel doesn’t simply step out of the way, unless it is forced out of the way by controlled demolition. And since it takes months to prepare a building of that size, and since government agencies were tenants of that building (WTC7), including the second largest CIA office in the world, 9/11 was an inside job. Researchers have also found high-tech, unspent incendiary materials in the 9/11 dust, proving that it was an inside job. Too many in government and corporations benefited from 9/11. The 19 Arabs accused of the hijackings (some of whom were trained at U.S. military bases) did not benefit from the event.

    Osama Bin Laden said he didn’t have anything to do with it, so even he did not benefit by claiming credit for the biggest terrorist act in human history.

    But forgiveness of the real perpetrators in government and corporations is so important. By forgiveness we show our love of them (not for their acts). Forgiveness is also taking perfect responsibility for their crimes, just as Jesus took responsibility for all our sins and for the sins of those who tacked him up on the cross. When you take such perfect responsibility, you cease to be a victim. When you love others as yourself so thoroughly, you cease to have any self-concern (ego). Then, miracles happen. Only then, the world is healed.

    • aspacia

      No 9/11 was not an inside job. Read a few of the valid scientific and professional demolition articles for insight.

      Bin Laden took credit for the crime and was very proud of it.