For the week of November 21 - 27, 2001

Why Thanksgiving wasn’t canceled

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The Wood River Valley sits without snow, Baldy’s ski lifts still unopened.

The rubble of the World Trade Towers burns on as workers continue to clear out the crater created when fully fueled passenger jets became bombs.

The Pentagon has a gaping hole in it.

Families grieve the losses of more than 5,000 loved ones who died in the September 11 attack.

Air travelers worry about airline security — with improvements at least two years away despite passage of a bill that will federalize airport security.

The war to unclench the Taliban government’s death grip on Afghanistan continues.

Suspected terrorist Osama Bin Laden is still at large.

Four foreign journalists are dead, the victims of an ambush in Afghanistan.

Americans worry about balancing civil liberties with security.

A national recession takes its toll, making businesses nervous about what next year will hold.

Employees wonder if they’ll have a job next month, or next year.

The people of Sun Valley wonder when it will snow.

So, why hasn’t President Bush issued an executive order to cancel Thanksgiving and replace it with a Howling at the Moon Festival?

Because the terrorists failed.

Oh, they succeeded in killing more than 5,000 people of many nationalities and religions, but they didn’t kill the spirit of this nation.

When the World Trade Center crumbled, American hearts did not.

Americans carry more than the searing images of horror from September 11.

They carry images of heroic firefighters and police who sacrificed their lives as they tried to save others.

They carry images of neighbor helping neighbor, and soldiers ready when called.

We rediscovered essential beliefs some feared had disappeared from the culture.

We found that we love peace, but that it may exist in this world only if some of us do not forget how to practice war.

We reached for the bedrock of our democratic values and found it intact.

We rediscovered that freedom is worth any cost — even our own lives.

We gained new appreciation for our democratic government.

We put aside internal squabbles and realized they were just that¾ squabbles.

On September 11, we learned again what we have always known but sometimes forgotten: The riches of our nation reside not in banks, but in the hearts and minds of its brave, generous and democratic people.

This is cause for Thanksgiving. This is why it wasn’t canceled.

This is cause for heartburn for terrorists and their supporters everywhere.

On this bittersweet holiday, let us remember those lost, give thanks for the nation, hope for peace, and rejoice in those near to us.

Pass the biscuits, please.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.