Do Not Forget

7 years ago, in a loss of civilian life numerically greater than the military losses at Pearl Harbor, America was assaulted in the name of radical Islam. In hatred of the freedom we have, in hatred of our Christianity (and our secularism), Islamic terrorists murdered nearly 3,000 men and women in New York City and Washington, D. C.

I still remember my grandmother calling my mom in the middle of the school day and telling her to turn on the TV; my mom and I together watched the second plane fly into the World Trade Center. And we watched them collapse in flame and flying debris.

The result was a deep-rooted anger which, God, in His merciful grace, has since rooted out of my heart--a story in itself--and replaced with a more deeply seated desire to protect my family and friends and country from another such occurrence.

On campus today, the security officers lowered the flag to half-staff, and we had a time of silence. Silence in remembrance of those who died in a raging inferno without the opportunity for peace. Silence for those who have died without murmur, without complaint, in the mountains of Afghanistan and on the streets of Iraq, to preserve peace and freedom for their own. And, for me, and a number of others here, a silent resolve to carry on that work, that our loved ones may live and die in peace.

Do not forget the hands that died reaching for life, nor those hands that fell while giving life...do not abandon them to the silence of the grave. We cannot give life to the honored dead, but we can ensure they did not die in vain, by our remembrance, and a commitment to live worthily of their sacrifice. May those who have gone before us rest in peace.

PSALM 94


1 O Lord God the avenger, O God the avenger,
show thyself clearly.

2 Exalt thyself, O Judge of the world, and render
a reward to the proud.

3 Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall
the wicked triumph?

4 They prate and speak fiercely: all the workers
of iniquity vaunt themselves.

5 They smite down thy people, O Lord, and
trouble thine heritage.

6 They slay the widow and the stranger, and
murder the fatherless.

7 Yet they say, The Lord shall not see: neither
will the God of Jacob regard it.

8 Understand, ye unwise among the people: and
ye fools, when will ye be wise?

9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? or
he that formed the eye, shall he not see?

10 Or he that chastiseth the nations, shall he
not correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall
he not know?

11 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that
they are vanity.

12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastisest, O
Lord, and teachest him in thy Law,

13 That thou mayest give him rest from the days
of evil, while the pit is dug for the wicked.

14 Surely the Lord will not fail his people, neither
will he forsake his inheritance.

15 For judgment shall return to justice, and all
the upright in heart shall follow after it.

16 Who will rise up with me against the wicked?
or who will take my part against the workers of
iniquity?

17 If the Lord had not helped me, my soul had
almost dwelt in silence.

18 When I said, My foot slideth, thy mercy, O
Lord, stayed me.

19 In the multitude of my thoughts in mine heart,
thy comforts have rejoiced my soul.

20 Hath the throne of iniquity fellowship with
thee, which forgeth wrong for a Law?

21 They gather them together against the soul of
the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.

22 But the Lord is my refuge, and my God is the
rock of mine hope.

23 And he will recompense them their wickedness,
and destroy them in their own malice, yea, the Lord
our God shall destroy them.