Life in the Palmetto State: I remember it like it was yesterday

Last Friday, Sept. 11, (9/11), we suffered through the 25th anniversary of one of the most horrific days we have ever experienced on our homeland since the bloody days of the Revolutionary and Civil wars.

That fateful day, we lost 2,977 people in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in that lonesome field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. That includes the 441 law enforcement, firefighters and emergency responders who selflessly ran into this planned mayhem to render help. Many more individuals have lost their lives since that time due to the long-term exposure to toxic dust and debris that they encountered that tragic day and the subsequent days.

They exhausted every effort to rescue the victims from the devastation set into motion by a ruthless faction intent on bringing down a great nation from within. This act of terrorism from a group of demons only strengthened the resolve of a determined nation to not ever be threatened, extorted or to cower in fear.

I have talked with many individuals over these last 25 years who say the same thing in that they remembered exactly where they were when this tragic event occurred. The images of those doomed airliners flying into the World Trade Center towers are indelibly etched into our traumatized minds and occupy a spot that will never be replaced.

I am still in awe of the emergency personnel whosacrificed their lives without question to save the perishing when they actually perished themselves. The thought of those firefighters racing up those stairs of the many floors of the trade center buildings knowing they would probably not make it out alive is an incredible testament to their commitment to serve.

Think for a minute the terror you would have felt if you were on the floors above the entry point of those intentionally guided airplanes. I cannot begin to imagine the fear those emergency responders and later civilian victims experienced watching the flames climb rapidly beneath them and feeling the heat of the inferno leading to their doom. It for me is beyond human comprehension.

The images of the dust clouds produced as the towers fell still haunt my mind. I have never seen anything to compare it to.

On Dec. 8, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke to a joint session of Congress and stated that Dec. 7 of that same year after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor would be a day that "would live in infamy." I think 9/11/2001 would qualify for that sentiment as well.

Now here is where my patriotism and anger are exposed.

It goes beyond my limits of understanding to think that we in these United States, knowing what we know, defend the rights of a radical religion like Islam.

Don't get me wrong, I believe in living in harmony and unity with my fellow man, but I can't extend my mercies and forgiveness to a group that wants to kill Christians and fervently shouts "death to America." To use a line from an old country song from years ago, "You are walking on the fighting side of me."

To close, there is a culture struggle going on with whether we should allow mosques to be built in our great United States. I realize our beloved constitution allows for the "freedom of religion." I don't believe, however, the framers had Islam in mind when they ratified the First Amendment.

My response to that is, if you are willing to be respectful and live and work within the boundaries and confines of our nation's precepts and our country's constitution, governances and participate in the well-being of our culture, then welcome.

But if your intention is to bring your toxic radical thoughts and spiritual leanings over here, then please use the same door you used to enter to leave and take sharia law with you.

To my readers, this radical belief is much worse than any cancer. Once it gets a foothold in our way of life, it destroys us from within our own borders. Unlike cancer, there is no cure for the damage that this thought process produces.

Just think about wisteria. It is a beautiful plant/vine that chokes the life out of its host. That's how their introduction into our sovereign land grows.

God bless the USA!

Lee Reaves Jr. is president of Clarendon County Historical Society.