Special Edition: Never Forget!

What will it take to remember?

On February 26, 1993 the World Trade Center in New York City experienced a terrorist attack.  In the underground parking garage of the North Tower, a truck bomb was detonated.  That bomb was intended to destroy both skyscrapers and cause tens of thousands of deaths.  The blast failed to topple the tower, but it blew a massive multi-story crater through several subterranean levels, knocked out power and emergency lighting, and filled the stairwells and building with thick smoke.  Although a “failure”, it still resulted in 6 deaths with more than 1,000 people being injured.  Tens of thousands of people were evacuated in what was then the largest rescue effort in New York City history.  A very loud and clear message was sent – but obviously, it was either ignored or not taken seriously.      

Because…just over 8½ yrs later, on September 11, 2001 – 25 years ago today – back in New York City, the unthinkable happened.  We had a terrorist attack that succeeded in destroying those two World Trade Center buildings, as terrorists flew suicide missions directly into the sides of those buildings.  Terrorists also crashed another plane into the Pentagon.  A third plane that had been hijacked, that they believed was headed to Washington DC to either fly into the Capital Building or the White House, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, killing all onboard, because the people on that plane fought back.  Innocent people left home that morning, headed to work like every other work day; or, boarded a plane for a trip intended for business or pleasure, all with plans to return home to their loved ones.  But for 2,977 of them, that never happened.  

The shock that we all absorbed – many of us witnessing in real time – the second plane striking that second tower was unlike anything we’ve ever experienced.  The response of this country was all- consuming as we rallied in unity.  People were more patient, more considerate, more gracious, more forgiving and we swore that we would NEVER FORGET!

But in all seriousness, I have to ask – what did we learn 25 years ago?  Have we truly not forgotten?

I would say that even with all of the new security steps that have been taken since then – some of them infringing into our very personal lives – we obviously didn’t learn enough.  “According to data compiled from sources like Global Terrorism Database, more than 545 distinct terrorist attacks have taken place on U.S. soil in the post-9/11 era.”  (USAFacts.org)  Now let me be clear, not all of those have been foreign-inspired Islamist extremist attacks.  But I personally believe that even the domestic extremists that have committed some of those attacks are getting their inspiration from foreign extremism.

I now want to pose a serious question…since we proclaimed loudly to the world that we would NEVER FORGET! – how could we possibly have allowed numerous people that don’t believe in our form of government to be elected into so many positions of power in this nation?  People that constantly try to disrupt the way things are meant to be?  We’re seeing them infiltrate every level of our government from the local level up into the halls of our U.S. Congress.  There are people being put into powerful positions that weren’t even born in this nation – people that celebrate an entirely different socio-political way of life that contradicts what we stand for & believe.  How can this be happening?  Why?  Because we have indeed forgotten!

We generally have become a nation of lazy, complacent people that shut their eyes to what’s really going on around them, thinking someone else will handle it.  How do I know this?  All you have to do is look at the statistics when it comes to voting – the extremely low turnout for the majority of elections.  It’s a simple task of electing the leaders that will take us the direction we prefer to go – based on our personal ethics, standards and beliefs – it’s a privilege and responsibility that should be taken extremely seriously.  People are (1) not getting out to vote at all – some just flat don’t want to bother with it, or think their vote won’t matter; or, (2) go vote but only vote for one particular party – because that’s the way they’ve always voted or, it’s the way their parents/grandparents always voted – totally ignoring how the candidates and the parties stand on the personal issues most important to them; or, (3) they go vote but are totally uninformed about the candidates/issues – but let me assure you, ignorance is NOT bliss.  

I actually know of one lady that said she’d vote for a specific candidate for President “because he’s good looking”; then we have the people that will vote for a specific candidate based solely on their race or gender or their personality; there are others that latch onto one specific issue, ignoring everything else, to determine who they’ll support; then like a man I know, he was going to vote for someone because he saw more of their signs out than the person running against them – totally oblivious to the differences in their political standards.  (In this particular case, the candidate with the most signs and TV ads was receiving money from a lot of corrupt people that wanted them to stay in office because they could control them easier – plus, that candidate – who was the incumbent – had dropped by about 40% approval in their support of the issues most important to the constituents.  These are all absurd reasons for voting for any candidate – I don’t care what party they belong to.      

Now down to the nitty-gritty.  Shamefully, Christians as a group are not getting out to vote and that should make us very ashamed!  Even though the Bible doesn’t directly address our modern day election process, it does tell us that our Lord established governing authorities – it is ordained by God.  As believers we are called to be good citizens, obey the laws, pray for our leaders, seek out the best for our communities.  How can we be good citizens and seek out the best for our communities when we don’t do anything to ensure it is going in the right direction?  Massive numbers of Christians chose not to vote in the 2024 Presidential election while 80% of Muslims registered to vote, did go to the polls and vote in that election!!  And we wonder why and how they’re filling so many of the elected positions from our cities to our counties to our states to nationally? 

People…the time is now – for us to REMEMBER!  Remember what the extremists have done to our nation and our way of life.  Remember what this nation was founded on and what we should be standing for today.  Remember that you, as a citizen of this nation, have a responsibility to fulfill to help keep our nation strong by playing a role in electing strong leadership that loves our nation, our way of life, our freedoms.  Remember that we have a very important election coming up in 53 days.  Remember that if you aren’t registered to vote you must do so no later than October 5.  Remember that early in-person voting starts on October 19 and runs through October 30.  Remember that the last day to apply for a mail-in ballot is October 23 and it must be received back by November 3.  Remember that election day is November 3.

In order to NEVER FORGET  – we must REMEMBER!

Written by Karran Martin – September 20, 2026

[All bold emphasis is mine]