To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose;

Dear Readers,

The events of Sept. 11, 2001 were for me, as they were for so many of you. There are friends no longer with us - for some of you, the empty seats may belong to family. For all of us, there are memories. Of darkness impregnable. Of heroism unconquerable. Of what we lost... and what we gained.

A time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time of war, and a time of peace.

It is a time of war. The question before us - the only real question - is whether we will prolong its bitter duration and human cost by failing to acknowledge the obvious. The true monument to those we have lost is not self-pity. It is victory. Then, and only then, we may find some time of peace.

My friends on the blogroll to your left, and others too numerous to name, will spare no effort to make us ready. In North America. In Europe. Even in the midst of those nations whose rulers in their blind hatred and despair have made themselves our mortal enemies.

The "Terror, Inc." series tried to set out some of the hard road ahead as I see it. We - and our children - have inherited a dangerous age. All the more dangerous in the appearance and habit of safety that was its hopeful beginning. 9-11 woke many of us from that dream, and tore away many illusions. Not least of which was the belief that our generation did not share the toughness, resolve, and spirit that built our civilization over the bodies of tyrants.

We have not yet begun to fight. They will see. Oh, they will see.

But that is a matter for another day. It is time now to sit quietly for a while, and raise a glass to a departed friend. And to you, my readers and fellow bloggers, who remain behind to fight the good fight. Together.

"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
   -- Sir Winston Churchill

The flag was still there	Heroes
Twin Towers of Light, Indestructible