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There are prayers that help us last through the day, or endure the night … that give us strength for the journey … that yield our will to a will greater than our own. This world He created is of moral design. Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance, and love have no end. And the Lord of life holds all who die, and all who mourn…

America is a nation full of good fortune…But we are not spared from suffering… On this national day of prayer and remembrance, we ask God Almighty to watch over our nation, and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to come. We pray that He will comfort and console those who now walk in sorrow. We thank Him for each life we now must mourn, and the promise of a life to come.

As we have been assured, neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, can separate us from God’s love. May He bless the souls of the departed. May He comfort our own. And may He always guide our country. God bless America.

– President George W. Bush National Day of Prayer and Remembrance

On September 11, 2001, I remember where I was, what was said around me, how the days, weeks, and months unfolded, as if it were yesterday. For years, I couldn’t watch any footage without sobbing and turning it off. Time is merciful. I feel ill when the networks show reruns of the Twin Towers on that fateful day, as well as the Pentagon and Pennsylvania, year after year. Who goes back to a fatal car accident scene, where loved ones perished? Why do war vets cry, decades after a war, when they sit through a war movie? It’s personal and gut wrenching. I have no desire to keep seeing it. If a generation did not witness it, it might be a good history lesson, but for me, it just revisits what our enemies cheered about, and still do.

Sixteen years since that fateful day, I realized the United States will always be a foe to any regime opposed to freedom. We’re a deep, aggravating, painful, festering, oozing, blood-red wound in the side of communism, Muslim extremism, fascism, and any oppressive ideology that hates freedom. We suffered on 9/11. People of every faith, color, income level, gender, and nationality suffered that day.

We’ll ring bells and recite the names of the fallen. We’ll lay wreaths and pray. We’ve built monuments to honor those that perished, and rebuilt our infrastructure. All the sites of remembrance, whether at Pearl Harbor, the Vietnam Wall, the Holocaust Museum, but especially on 9/11, in New York, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, PA … are all deeply special to Americans, all holy ground.

As Americans, we persevere. The battle is not yet finished, and will never be finished. I believe America has always had a special destiny. It’s in the air, the ground, the atoms, molecules, and heart of every American. It was written long ago by the Founders, who believed in something bigger than themselves.

I believe we were given a mandate (gift) by The Most High. Our founders believed that, and it was the Source they drew from, to create our foundation. If there is any doubt, read their letters, speeches, historical documents and prayers, including today’s quote of the day. There are many more examples, on our monuments, in our Capitol, on state grounds, in court houses, even on our currency. That may make some in our modern culture uncomfortable, but it’s what makes our Constitution work. That mandate defends the Catholic and the atheist, the Muslim and the Jew, the children and the elderly, the gays and the straights, Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and everyone in between. That mandate defends life and liberty, not for a select group, but for all.

It’s why some risk everything, even their lives, to reach our shores. It’s why our military go to foreign lands to defend the weak, the persecuted, and to defend our country, why we argue and stamp our feet without fear over what is right and wrong. It’s why we don’t wait for government, but launch anything that floats to save our fellow neighbor, friend, or stranger, no matter their color, age, income, or sexual preference in a massive, deadly storm.

Life matters. Freedom matters. We’ll never be anything else. I never want to be anything else.