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Heroes of Freedom
By Beverly Wyckoff, Winsted
The World Trade Center has been attacked before, and for that reason the people who died there on September 11 were not murdered by terrorists. They died in their right as free people to be in that building, conducting the business of trade between free nations. They chose to be there showing us that they were willing to put themselves in a position of vulnerability—one that represents freedom.
The Pentagon is a center where decisions are made that help to ensure freedom, not only here, but also throughout the world. For that reason the people who died there on September 11 were not murdered by terrorists. They died in the protection of our country. Those people also made a choice to put themselves in a position of vulnerability‚ one that represents freedom.
The airline industry has been attacked before, and danger in the sky has existed for a long time. For that reason the people who died on Flight #93 were not murdered by terrorists. They died in their collective decision to prevent innumerable others from dying. They made a choice to put themselves in a position of vulnerability—one that represents freedom.
The rescue workers who died on September 11, the bravest of the free, were not murdered by terrorists. They brought themselves to the danger that day. It was in their freedom of choice to be what they were professionally that doubly augmented their position of vulnerability—one that represents freedom.
These incidents are all connected by the common thread of freedom. The freedom of people to choose where they are and for what they are willing to die.
Those whose lives were lost on September 11 are our heroes of freedom and the first veterans of a war that must be fought. People are not able to choose how they will die, but they will die for the freedom to choose how they will live.
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