A universal indictment

On Friday morning, I stood on a bluff overlooking Long Island Sound and watched a dedication ceremony for a 9/11 memorial.
A lone bag piper played Amazing Grace. The haunting notes of Taps echoed across the water. Family members read the names of the fallen. Bells tolled. Tears fell.
I was sad. And angry. I will always be angry about the terrorist attacks on my country on September 11, 2001.
What infuriates me more than anything is when politicians talk about that day. In sanctimonious and self-serving speeches, they tell us we must never forget what happened that day -- as if anyone could.
What disgusts me more than anything is that some people already have. According to news accounts, a group of American students surveyed admitted to having little to no idea why we were attacked that day.
What scares me more than anything is that in spite of the tragic loss of so many lives that day and in the years that followed, so many people still seem to take everything we have for granted.
Some of you may view this as an indictment of a specific politician or political party, but trust me, it isn't. If anything, it is a universal indictment.
It is an indictment of all leaders who fail to recognize the ongoing threats to everything we hold so dear.
It is an indictment of those that discourage critical, independent thinking.
It is an indictment of those who see no need to question authority.
It is an indictment of the students who are too ignorant, intimidated or afraid to question what they are taught.
It is an indictment of those in the media that report only one side of a story.
It is an indictment of educators, those in pop culture and those in the media who work to advance a specific agenda.
It is an indictment of the "polite police" who discourage frank discussion in the name of political correctness.
It is an indictment I am uniquely qualified to make. I am a first-generation American whose father fled prosecution and persecution of an oppressive regime.
As I write a book based on my father's life, I am more convinced than ever that freedom is the single most important gift anyone can have.
I am not alone.
In his essay on the Secret of Kosovo published in Landmarks in Serbian Culture and History in 1983, Marko S. Markovic wrote: "If there is no peace without freedom, there is no freedom without truth."
Bozidar Knezevic, the world-renowned Serbian Philosopher of history, also wrote: "Only in liberty does one learn to love and respect liberty as a vital necessity: only in freedom can one learn to use freedom, just as one can breathe only in the air. It is only free men and nations that know how to respect the liberty of others. As long as there are captive peoples, the free will be in danger."
Until next time, "That's life..."