9/11 occurred on a Tuesday.
asserted
9/11 → occur → Tuesday
In October 2009, I released a song entitled "Tuesday" — a musical plea to never forget the lessons of September 11, 2001, when Islamic terrorists murdered 2,977 innocent people on American soil.
asserted
terrorists → release → soil
Is Monday coming back/
That’s what Mondays do/
They turn and turn around/
Afraid to see it through.
asserted
They → come → it
Performing my song "Superman" at Paul McCartney’s Concert for New York City was one of the great honors of my life.
asserted
Performing → perform → life
To spend that day — and share that stage — with heroic New York City first responders and the families of those murdered was an incredibly humbling, life-changing experience.
asserted
spend → spend → those
Much of the audience at Madison Square Garden consisted of firefighters, police officers, rescue workers and others who had spent the previous month sifting through the rubble and carnage of Ground Zero.
asserted
who → consist → Zero
The images of thousands of people singing, screaming, crying and embracing one another remain seared into my memory.
asserted
images → sing → memory
For a few hours, music gave them — and all of us — a chance to release some of the pain we carried within.
asserted
we → give → pain
The world sang and cried with us.
asserted
world → sing → us
You may remember what happened in the aftermath of 9/11.
uncertain
what → remember → 9/11
America came together in a way we had rarely seen before and have not seen since.
asserted
we → come → way
Americans stood shoulder to shoulder across the country with compassion, love and resolve — and with an unequivocal commitment to bring Usama bin Laden and his terrorist network to justice.
asserted
Americans → stand → justice
The thing about memories/
They’re sure and bound to fade/
Except for the stolen souls/
Left upon her blade.
Imagine standing in your neighborhood on September 12, 2001, and telling your neighbor what America might look like 25 years later.
uncertain
America → ’re → what
Imagine telling them that radical leftist ideologies, hostile to America, would infiltrate some of our most prestigious universities and metastasize through mainstream and social media.
asserted
ideologies → imagine → media
That members of Congress would echo propaganda promoted by terrorist organizations such as Hamas.
asserted
members → echo → Hamas
That candidates could associate with people who openly express hatred for America — or even suggest America deserved 9/11 — and still win elections and govern American cities.
uncertain
America → associate → cities
They would not have believed you, such lunacy!
asserted
They → believe → you
The aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack in Israel provided another warning about the moral collapse taking hold within many of our institutions.
asserted
aftermath → provide → institutions
Before Israel had even buried its dead, we witnessed people in the West rationalizing, excusing and even celebrating the slaughter.
asserted
people → bury → slaughter
It raises an uncomfortable question: If an attack on the scale of 9/11 occurred in America today, would we still respond as one people, one country?
Or would we see more mob like campus encampments, ideological justifications for terrorism, and Americans blaming their own country as the "oppressor" that somehow got what it deserved.
Tuesday came and went/
One September/
When will she come again?
asserted
she → raise → what
Twenty-five years after 9/11, America finds itself in another battle — this one for the soul of our nation and, more broadly, for the future of Western civilization.
asserted
America → find → civilization
The threats are not identical to those we faced in 2001.
asserted
we → face → 2001
Radical Islamism remains a global threat, while antisemitism and anti-American extremism increasingly find expression across the ideological spectrum.
asserted
antisemitism → remain → spectrum
Ideas once confined to society’s fringes now travel instantly, and with little consequence, through universities, political movements and social media.
asserted
Ideas → confine → universities
That is why "Never Forget" cannot become merely a slogan printed on a bumper sticker or repeated once every September.
asserted
Forget → forget → sticker
We have a duty to teach our children what happened on September 11, 2001: about the evil fanatics who attacked us, why they attacked us, and the carnage of what unchecked extremism can produce.
asserted
extremism → have → what
But "Never Forget" means something more.
asserted
Forget → forget → something
It means remembering the best of us.
asserted
It → mean → us
It means telling our children about the firefighters who climbed stairwells while everyone else was running down.
asserted
everyone → mean → stairwells
The police officers, paramedics and ordinary citizens who ran toward collapsing infernos to save people they had never met.
asserted
they → run → people
The passengers of Flight 93 who understood what was happening and, knowing the probable cost, fought back.
asserted
what → understand → cost
They represent the best of humanity.
asserted
They → represent → humanity
Twenty-five years later, their courage should still challenge and inspire us.
asserted
courage → challenge → us
Their sacrifice should remind us that America is not sustained merely by institutions, elections or slogans.
asserted
America → remind → institutions
It survives because generation after generation chooses to defend the principles that make the country worth defending.
asserted
country → survive → principles
Memory fades.
asserted
Memory → fade → ?
History becomes distant.
asserted
History → become → ?
Tuesdays come and go.
asserted
Tuesdays → come → ?
But some Tuesdays must never be forgotten.
asserted
Tuesdays → forget → ?
May the memory of those we lost — and the example of the heroes of September 11, 2001 — give us the strength, courage and fortitude to fight for America every day, especially Tuesdays, for the next 250 years.
uncertain
we → lose → years
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
