The following was first posted on September 11, 2011.  It reminds us of the imperative of an America where service and sacrifice are honored and the importance of leadership that understands that.

In the 60’s and 70’s, musical Utopia for us baby boomers, English blues-rock band Ten Years After produced eight Top 40 albums. Their name, apropos of the 10-year anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center, two of their songs seem especially poignant today.

I’m Going Home is for all American troops, from Korea to Iraq, from Okinawa to Somalia. I’d Love To Change The World is both timeless and myopic.

World peace is the satirical wish of every beauty queen spoofed in sketch.  Whether or not realistic, until that day comes it serves us well to remember that there are those who have pledged their lives to the destruction of America.

The why is unimportant.  Just as they can not understand our way of life, we can not understand theirs.

Our foreign policy tends to implement the notion that all nations crave the American dream.  I would challenge that notion.

Politics, religion and philosophy aside, today is about reflection.

Reflection about those who perished on that day 10 years ago, simply going about their lives.

About those who raced into the eye of disaster, as they always do, in service to their communities.

About those who watched helplessly as their comrades lost battles to save victims and themselves, some disappearing forever, only to live on in the hearts of loved ones.

About those who rushed into the aftermath and today suffer debilitating afflictions and those who died of those afflictions.

It’s about those who took up arms in defense of family, friends, country and the ideal that is the heart of a great nation.  If not the “Greatest Generation”, those who answered the call are certainly a Great Generation.

To you, seeking only to defend that which you hold most dear, often paying with your life we say, Thank you and Godspeed. You will not be forgotten.

The heroes of World War II are leaving us at a rate of about 900 per day, their stories often lost with their passing.  History is their legacy, it is the lessons left behind by those who have gone before.

Today is about reflection.  Today is about those lessons.

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