All I Needed to Know About September 11, I Learned From Reading Dr. Seuss

Well, it's true!

Yesterday, one could not flip a channel, turn on a radio, or pick up a newspaper without being reminded that it was the 5th anniversary of September 11, 2001. Probably each of us spent some time, be it at 8:46 am or later, quietly remembering those who perished on that fateful day while also reflecting upon the utter import of the day. It was, after all, Patriot's Day.

As for me and the wife, we watched the second half of "The Path to 9/11," the much debated, and wonderfully depicted, mini-series. We were horrifically moved by what the writers, directors, and actors so poignantly displayed to us. Personally, I teared as one of the passengers on board United 93 said his goodbye's to his wife and daughters.

But, frankly, I have not needed the time to remember what happened 5 years ago. Neither did the President. As he so aptly reminded us in prime time, the war on terror, begun in force on 9/11, is ongoing and we are winning. In essence, I heard the President say once again: you cannot kill the American spirit.

He must have read Dr. Seuss.

You have probably read it too: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. It is one of my favorites, made even more memorable by the deep, surly voices of Boris Karloff narrating and Thurl Ravenscroft (think Tony the Tiger, saying, "They're Grrrrrreat!") singing, "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch...." It's an American Christmas tradition, to be sure!

So what does the Grinch have to do with September 11? Let me explain.

If you recall, the Grinch, who had a physical malady (tiny heart-itis), hated Christmas. It was his stated goal to stop Christmas from coming. He planned and connived, fumed and fussed. He assembled a team of n'er-do-wells (ok, Max was more of an innocent pawn, but....you get the point) to help him destroy the Whos down in Who-Ville's Christmas.

So, in his Grinchy way, he sloshed down the mountain, stole all the Who toys and even the Roast Beast!! He took every aspect of what he believed to sustain and create the spirit of Christmas for the Whos (who, if you remember, lived down in Who-Ville. Including, Cindy-Loo Who, who was no more than two!).

Yet, when he returned to the top of Mt. Crumpit, as the Whos assembled in the courtyard now, thanks to him, sans decorations, tang-tangas, checkerboards, pop-guns, and, of course, Roast Beast, the Grinch was taken aback by the song that arose to his Grinchy green ear.

"Dah who door-ray, fah whoo for-ray...Welcome Christmas, bring your cheer..."

After all his efforts, after all his terrorizing of Who-Ville, the Grinch failed to stop Christmas from coming.

So too Bin Laden. It has been his stated goal to destroy America and the freedom it represents. For years, the Tall One planned and connived, he jeered and mocked, he fumed and he fussed. He assembled a team of n'er-do-well's - who were not nearly as innocent, nor as loveable as Max - to learn how to fly a plane (not take off or land, just fly). He hid money, stole money, and funneled money to a handful of Saudi radicals who then bought box cutters and plane tickets and changed air travel forever.

But, as the center of the economic world, as two symbols of freedom, of Americanism, of democratic ingenuity lay in a heap, without the human adornments of beauty and patriotism walking its floors or ringing its phones, the Grinch...er...UBL heard a different sound reach his grinchy ear:

"God bless America! Land that I love! Stand beside her, and guide her, through the night, with the light from above. From the Mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam! GOD bless America! My home, sweet home. God bless America! My home, sweet home."

The Great Bearded One, in all of his machinations and rantings, plannings and ponderings, had failed to stop freedom's advance. America, so it seemed, was without it's dollars and cents, it's stocks and bonds, it's 401(k)'s and Roth IRA's. In a smoking pit laid the bodies and ruins of a great segment of American society. America's defense was even questioned by the attack on the Pentagon. America, the great invulnerable superpower, had been humiliated. By all accounts, America as we knew it should have imploded.

But it didn't.

You see, our freedom, like the Christmas spirit of the Whos, is not something we wrap in a package and tie on a bow; it is not something to be hung from a tree, or carved at the table; freedom is endowed to us by our Creator. With it we are given certain inalienable rights; meaning, they were given by no man, and by no man can they be taken.

Today, 5 years and 1 day on from September 11, 2001, I remember that our freedom is a gift that cannot be taken by even the vilest of humans. And, if you will join me, we resolve to recognize that evil does exist in this world and it must be opposed.

You see all the American's down in the United States, the large and the small, must all remember that we understand freedom in America only in human terms. But the One who instilled within us the desire to live free is the only One who can make you free indeed.

Mr. Bin Laden, you're a mean one. You're cuddly like an eel. You're a toadstool and artichoke sandwich, mixed with arsenic sauce. And, I wouldn't touch you with a 39 and a 1/2 foot pole!! Given the choice between the two of you, I'd take the seasick crocidile!

But I pray your heart will grow 3 sizes this day.

[Copyright: Jeremiah G. Dys, 2006. For permission to re-print, please contact the author directly.]