It is 9-11 and every blogger, commentator, and preacher is waking up with a feeling of obligation to say something.

I think almost everything has been said somewhere by someone.

It happened. It was awful. We must never forget. It changed some things …

… but not nearly as many things as some folks predicted.

True, it was the reason for one war and  at least the stated reason for another where many more lives have been lost than in the initial attack. We have some longer lines. We have opened ourselves up for compromises of our personal freedoms without blinking an eye. We have become more tolerant of secrecy in government.

In those respects, perhaps the terrorists have won a few battles. They wanted to make us more like them and they have, to a degree, succeeded.

In another respect, they have lost. Young men and women have stepped forward to defend their country sacrificially. People have been more cooperative than they once were with minor inconveniences. Certain legitimate security measures have been taken to close loopholes. Our eyes are more observant of our surroundings. We have sought to understand how the rest of the world thinks.

It is years later and the remarkable thing is that this grotesque act of utter futility and devastating evil did not destroy western civilization or dramatically alter our lifestyles. It did not destroy us. Even the stock market quickly bounced back.

History is full of conflict, ideological and political. It is full of atrocities, some of which "our people" have committed.

Civilization has survived and God is still in charge of the final outcomes.