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 Recent
events have made many of us pause our lives for compassion and
remembrance to honor those who have died or were injured. Anger
followed towards those responsible. Actions were taken and are
still being taken to punish those accountable. Our lives are
changed, especially how we travel and the assumption we make of
being safe at work, at home, and when we travel.
Many of us have always assumed
that catastrophe can occur at any place and time and we must be
ready to protect our families and friends as needed. Some of us
have experienced the horrors of war, but for others, many of
them Americans who have never experienced war and its
consequences firsthand, the voids are new, unfamiliar, and
utterly terrifying. The loss of safety in our homeland, and the
overwhelming insistence of fear has invaded our lives. The
potential loss of freedoms cherished and upheld by our
Constitution as we balance a nation's need for greater
security with our fundamental commitment to individual freedoms
will be issues of great concern.
Though defined by our
government as an "Act of War," which it was, our
position must remain one that our forefathers believed in - we
fight for the principles of freedom including the freedom of
religious beliefs regardless of nationality or ethnic
background. Do not put the burden on all Arabs,
Middle-Easterners, or on all Muslims. We must positively
identify those responsible, as well as those who protected them
and are protecting them, and deliver swift and appropriate
justice in a focused and discriminate manner.
While fighting the battle
against terrorism and making our country as safe as is
reasonable without losing our freedoms, we should remember why
our forefathers left the word "safe" out of the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The founders of our country
realized that being totally safe comes with a price, a price
that they, and we, are not willing to pay. Benjamin Franklin
said, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor
safety." (Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759).
The right To Keep and Bear
Arms is even more important today and it is the right upon which
all others rest upon. The request from the Airline Pilots
Association to carry a firearm in the cockpit to protect
themselves, their plane, their passengers, and the people on the
ground is something that should have been addressed years ago.
Editorial
Continued
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