As we prepare to honor the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on America by Islamic terrorists, there are many angles to commemorate. The tragic loss of life, the disruption on many families, and the distress on international relations are a few of the ongoing consequences of that day reverberating throughout the generations. September 11, 2001 impacted the course of American history in more ways than we can understand.
On that day, the eyes of the world were focused in on a few square miles of American soil. It was a day of devastation, loss, and chaos. But in the midst of that storm, there were some that rose above the call of duty, matching the evil with good. We rightly pay homage to the brave emergency responders that risked their lives in exchange for the lives of others, contrasting the Islamic extremists who took their own lives in order to take life from others. Their courage, discipline, love, and work ethic are worthy of honor. These people are nothing short of heroes and should be remembered as such.
Heroism is not just a necessary aspect of any culture. It’s an inescapable one. As soon as you have at least one person in the club, there will be certain revered character traits and others that are despised. When the person count grows, these character traits take on a persona. The values a culture upholds are personified in the one demonstrating them, as are the ideas a culture abhors. Think about the heroes in Greek mythology – Achilleus, Diomedes, Odysseus, and others. These men personified the values of Greece. As did Aeneas and Romulus for Rome. The Russians have the Three Bogatirs – Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich, and Dobrinya Nikitich. And America, up until the most recent pages of the calendar, esteemed their Founding Fathers and the men that followed in their footsteps – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Robert E. Lee, and even the likes of Theodore Roosevelt.
Heroism is an inescapable concept in culture building. The identity of a people group will always be demonstrated in the heroes they select. Acknowledging that reality helps us to evaluate a culture, and enables us to build one. You can look at the people a culture puts on pedestals and builds sculptures of and identify not just what they care about, but also where they’re going. That’s why when a new majority takes over in the culture, they tear down old statues and erect new ones – to personify their values and destroy the ones of their opponents. Values in the world of hypotheticals don’t do anybody any good. Values must be dressed in flesh and bone, stand erect, and have a familiar scent. When Russians think of Ilya Muromets, they think of his strength and resilience. When they are reminded of Alyosha Popovich, they remember his wit and shrewdness. And when they reflect on Dobrinya Nikitich, they are immersed in his courage. Heroes are the embodiment of a culture’s values walking amongst them.
But heroes as characters in a vacuum aren’t enough. In order to demonstrate their virtue, they must be contextualized in a story. The story of George Washington leading his men across the Delaware River on Christmas Day does what simply explaining who the man was can never accomplish. As does the story of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson at the First Battle of Bull Run. A hero without a story is not yet a hero.
Stories of heroism are building blocks in a culture’s shaping. The stories we have from 9/11 of self-sacrificial, courageous heroism are hallmarks in America’s history. It’s these kinds of stories that helped form America. And it’s these kinds of stories that are desperately missing and muted today.
Today, American heroes are forced into hiding. American warriors are marginalized. American champions are cast out. They are replaced with the likes of Caitlyn Jenner – the brave she-man who withstands society’s pressure and attempts to change his pronoun. Or the woman who was raised by lesbians and broke stereotypes to become a U.S. Army Corporal. Here is your contender for heroism, America:
This is who we’re supposed to look up to. This is who we’re supposed to aspire to be like. This is who is set up as our new hero, not by CNN or UC Berkley, but by our military – a supposedly apolitical institution. Rousseau and Marx were mainstreamed in America by the 1960s, and effectively institutionalized by the 2020s.
At first glance, it’s ironic that on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, American bravery is mocked by the actions of Biden’s regime in Afghanistan. The eyes of the world are again focused on America, but this time with disgust by our allies and with thrill by our opportunistic enemies. But then again, it’s not ironic because the actions align with America’s current cultural agenda. The fact that our shameful defeat in Afghanistan is happening on the 20th anniversary of commemorating American courage is attributable to the ultimate Storyteller instilling a memorial of what America has forfeited – reminding us how far we fell.
“Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” – Luke 12:48
America has great heroes in its history, who not only laid the foundation, but were beacons on the nation’s path. Today, virtue has been dethroned and vice has seated itself. America has become a culture without heroes. And since heroism is an inescapable concept in culture-building, if you take away the heroes, you destroy the culture.
On the anniversary of 9/11, our mourning goes out not only to the loss of lives on that day 20 years ago, or the loss of lives throughout the last 20 years in the war in Afghanistan. We mourn the loss of the values that were exemplified throughout the American experiment, and which we saw a glimpse of on September 11, 2001.
But we don’t mourn without hope. These cultural values are not past our grasp, not yet. There is still a way back. America, as it was founded, is the downstream flow of Christian ideals imbued into civilization. And like every culture, the Christian cultural ideals are also personified in a hero. The Word took on flesh and bone, stood erect, and had a familiar scent. We have His story. The Christian culture has it’s Hero. Christianity isn’t American. But America could be Christian again.
The heroes we choose determine the culture we build. We have a way to build a Christian culture under God’s blessing. But it requires us to set up Jesus Christ as the Hero we aspire to. The only way Christian values will be immersed into a civilization is if civilization looks to the Christian Hero for its identity.
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