This year my remembrance of September 11th, 2001 is greatly affected by the many changes in my life over the past year.
I have lived for most of this year less than two hours from New York, just over two hours from Washington, D.C., and just over three hours from where the heroic passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 won the first victory of the war on terror.
I have met people who have spent months and years overseas since the attack bringing justice to the world.
I now have friends, co-workers, and colleagues with family and loved ones serving overseas in the defense of North America.
I now have a close friend who will more than likely be going overseas in the near future to fight for my way of life.
I have been to the Pentagon.
I have been to Ground Zero:
Still, the one thing that has not changed in my life in the past year is my belief that the world today is much different than the one I grew up in, and that we must act accordingly.
Though no one seems to explicitly do so, today's debate surrounding terrorism can ultimately be framed as a difference between two political philosophies: preemption vs. reaction. Before the attack, I too believed it was unreasonable for one country to strike another without an imminent threat of attack. Today, I now realize, and we have all experienced, the cost of such complacency. In the words of Sen. John McCain, "... there is no avoiding this war. We tried that, and our reluctance cost us dearly."