Never Forget About Reality

There’s something I just don’t understand.

Well, there are many things I don’t understand but what I’m referring to now is the alternate reality in which so many of my fellow Americans live. It’s the pushback against “Black Lives Matter.” It’s the outrage over a football player not standing when the National Anthem is played even though the only time people DO stand is when they’re part of a crowd and are afraid of being singled out for staying seated. And it’s the perception that Barack Obama is less of a president than his predecessor.

Today is the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington and the related plane crash in a field in rural Pennsylvania. Facebook is of course chock full of posts, photos and links commemorating this sorrowful occasion. This isn’t as surprising to me as the introductions that some people included in their posts:

Whether you like him or not, he kept us free from anymore terrorism. History will remember him as a good President who had a lot to handle. He also lowered taxes, which kept the massive mistakes of the Obama administration from being even worse, if possible! To those who lost family and friends on 9/11, you will never be forgotten.

We need another President like this. Granted, Bush wasn't perfect but nobody is. He wasn't afraid to stand up for our nation and her people. When those towers came down fifteen years ago, he wasn't willing to step back and hide in the shadows. He wasn't willing to put our nation's well being on the line just to keep from "offending" others. He cared about America, and that's what we're missing today.

Worth a read....I don't want something like 9/11 to happen under Obama's or Hillary's watch.They wouldn't have been so committed...At least Bush genuinely cared about America when he was president.I really hope America doesn't have to suffer further with Hillary getting into power...we need a strong leader like Trump who will and does actually do something when bad things happen.....Also a reminder to pray for all the families who have lost so many loved ones to the events and after events of 9/11.Never forget.

Remember 9/11 all of you not on the side of sharia. Here's a choice that is simple - hag like this don't deserve even words. As with that fried like bacon looker Colon and his ilk and those by their silence..support the shredding of nation by being gutless, bottom of the barrel feeders. Here is the damage done by Obamar and his Hag as they divide and conquer those incapable of figuring things through. The recent remark of the hag's as like the clinging to their guns and prayer books painting by her black hero whom she patterns herself after - speaks volumes..The Mao Hag, dumb as a rock, must know that among those lost on 9/11 were those that she now would categorize as " basket of deplorables."

Thank you president George W. Bush glad you've been finally vindicated this and the 23 really 38 pages released no news can propagandize this.

This is why I liked Bush...obummer will never measure up to this...."We’re at war," Bush told Vice President Dick Cheney. Hanging up and turning to his aides, he added: "When we find out who did this, they're not going to like me as president. Somebody's going to pay." "I can't wait to find out who did it," Bush said. "It's going to take a while and we're not going to have a little slap on the wrist crap."

Hey Obummer 👇THIS is how a REAL President acts !!!!! "We're at war," Bush told Vice President Dick Cheney. Hanging up and turning to his aides, he added: "When we find out who did this, they're not going to like me as president. Somebody's going to pay."

It’s not the poor or nonexistent punctuation that rubs me the wrong way (although it does) or the fact that some people can’t express themselves better than a four-year-old (although they can’t). What gets me is the denial about what really happened that day and subsequently. Bush didn’t lay the groundwork for an improved economy; he destroyed it. He didn’t bring Osama bin Laden to justice; as he himself admitted, he stopped looking for or caring about 9/11’s mastermind. He doesn’t care more about the United States than Barack Obama and our current president measures up to Bush in every way. So how do people embrace this Alice in Wonderland version of reality? How do they convince themselves of their skewed reality or ignore that the exact opposite of what they describe is what really happened?

Because I was so riled up and flabbergasted after reading these posts, I posed my question to Anita. “How can so many people be so wrong about so much?,” I asked. Is it our education system? Is it the media? Is it environmental? Is there something in the water? (Sadly, the people of Flint can answer that in the affirmative.) She replied that I shouldn’t act so flummoxed because I know this already. I know that people believe what they want to believe no matter what. I know that many, many men and women see things differently than I do. And I know that whenever I go online, I risk being confronted with opinions and arguments that leave me speechless and annoyed.

She prefers the speechless thing to the annoyed thing, she added.

One last thing about 9/11: I know that a significant number of innocent human beings lost their lives on that horrible day – over 3,000, the experts say, including more than 400 police officers, firefighters and paramedics – and countless friends, loved ones and families will never be the same. I know that 8,900 people were injured on September 11 and that it was the largest terrorist attack on U.S. soil. And I know that because I’m not personally acquainted with anyone who was touched by this catastrophe, my perspective is probably lacking. But I can’t stop thinking about one of the many handwritten signs photographed and published soon after the attacks. A group of young Palestinians held up a placard with the words, "Sorry, USA - We Know Because We Have Sept. 11 Every Day."

Click here to read, “9/11 Happens Every Day to Victims of U.S. Foreign Policy.”

I don’t think it’s a disservice to those who died and still suffer to reflect upon this. The disservice, in my opinion, is embracing beliefs that are devoid of facts about what really happened that day and in the decade and a half that’s followed. It’s in beating our chests and waving striped cloth when people continue to die all around the world partly because of us. And it’s in blaming the wrong people for what happened while letting the real criminals – those who took advantage of the goodwill of the American people, advanced their personal and political agendas at our expense and helped to create a climate in which ignorance flourishes – get off scot-free.

I won’t be solemn and morose today. I won’t join those who believe that 9/11 matters more than anything that’s taken place and continues to take place elsewhere. I won’t be gleeful, disrespectful or ungrateful to be born in the USA but I won’t be glum and gloomy. And I won’t read any more Facebook posts; if I feel like reading fiction, I’ll pick up the new J.K. Rowling release.

Sources: New York Daily News, Facebook, History.com, TomMullen.net.