Battling at the front lines, and at home.

For the last couple of years, I've posted on 9/11, but I wanted to avoid it on this, the ninth anniversary. There's nothing I can tell you about that day that you don't know or remember, and there's probably no need for me to remind you of it at all, because it's seared into your memory, just like it is in mine.

Then yesterday, I got to thinking about the residuals left from that day. Not just on our memories and on our feeling of safety, the long security lines at airports and the word "terrorism." I got to thinking about what the perpetrators of that crime really took from us, and the havoc they've caused since. I can't help thinking that they've won.

There's a very clear us-versus-them mentality prevalent in our culture right now, particularly toward the Islamic community both here and overseas. It's a culture of fear, and of misunderstanding, one that I imagine Osama bin Laden had been attempting to create when he and his cronies hatched their evil plan to stain America forever. Rather than re-bridge that gap, and clearly define who we loathe (al Qaeda/terrorists), we've allowed the divide to widen, and we've allowed for more hatred to seep into our daily existence.

Ramadan, an Islamic holiday similar to Catholic Lent, ended last night. Traditionally, the end of the month-long fast is celebrated with Eid al-Fitr, a three-day celebration, which this year happens to coincide with September 11.

On NPR yesterday, an imam from Southern California discussed his congregation's plan to not celebrate the holiday today, the anniversary. He said the members of his mosque were scared, their sacred space had been vandalized and it seemed inappropriate to celebrate on such a sad day. Part of me agrees with him, and commends him for altering their celebratory plans in the name of sensitivity. The other part of me wonders, would my church ever move Easter in order to make another group of people more comfortable? Should we, or they, ever have to do that?

I've already blogged about my feelings on the new Islamic center in Manhattan, but it's another perfect example. Now Donald Trump is offering to buy the place, so that the group will move the center a few blocks further away. What difference will that make? The scar in the earth, and in us, left from September 11, 2001, will forever be a scar, and that's ok. We should never forget what happened on that day, and how it made us feel, and what's been sacrificed since. What we should not do, though, is prevent the wound from scarring over. We cannot leave it open, preventing us from celebrating what makes us as a culture -- unique. There are few other places that openly accept and fight for freedom and tolerance, and we should fight for those rights. We should practice what we preach. We should recognize the horrible deeds of a few, are not representative of the whole.

When Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla. announced a Qur'an burning last week, I was confused. As I listened to the story as it unfolded, I became more confused. What was the point? Condemn a whole religion, one of the world's largest, and burn its sacred text in the name of remembrance and honor? There is no honor in that. Burning Bibles, Qur'ans, Torahs, or any other religious text, is hardly exemplifying free speech. It's promoting hatred. It's promoting fear. It's promoting ignorance. It's intentionally trying to hurt someone else -- and that's not Christianity at all.

True patriotism, and true honor of what's been given up since September 11, 2001, is not eliminating a culture or a religion. It's celebrating what makes this country unique by not giving in to fear and to hate. We should never forget, we should always be vigilent, we should always honor those sacrificed. We do that by not letting terrorism win...not on the front lines, and not here.