SEPTEMBER 11, 2021 (published 9-12-2021)

Introduction

The often-repeated phrase is “9/11.” The year 2001 is assumed. The historical details of 9/11/2001 are remembered.

Yesterday was 9/11/2021. It was “life, such as it is,” in the context of memory, honor, and the usual.

Memory: Tuesday, September 11, 2001

The above photograph is from “AP PHOTOS: 20 images that documented the enormity of 9/11,” The Associated Press (AP), by Jennifer Peltz, 9/8/2021. You can find many photographs online. The Statue of Liberty was and is still standing.

Dad was still in this temporal world. Mom had gone to her everlasting home on 12/27/2000. (Dad joined Mom on 1/25/2008.) Mrs. Appalachian Irishman and I were still living in our apartment on the ridge above where the Knox Center Mall used to be. My wife was and still is teaching for a living in Sevierville, Tennessee. I was working as a second shift operator and help desk agent at DeRoyal Industries in Powell, Tennessee. Almost two years had passed, since our return from Russia, where we served as Christian missionaries for five years.

On 9/11/2001, Mrs. Appalachian Irishman had already gone to work. I was alone. Just after 9:03 AM, but before 9:37 AM, Dad called our landline. I was awake but still in bed. He told me about the planes that had hit the two towers. We talked a while. I remember. Dad, at the time, was doing well enough. I worked my second shift job. Life was surreal. Folks were going through a Tuesday workday with blank expressions and little comments. The timeline of 9/11/2001 is found on several websites. One is National September 11 Memorial & Museum: 9/11 Interactive Timelines.

In early 2003, I worked many mornings to early afternoons on our under-construction house, before going to my second shift job. We had broken ground in early December 2002, before Dad had his heart trouble later that month. We moved into our new house on 6/7/2003, the day, in 2000, that Health South let Mom fall. I know the details. I had done most of the interior sanding, puttying, and painting. Mrs. Appalachian Irishman and family had helped some.

I still have the portable radio, to which I listened while sanding, puttying, and painting. My youngest brother had given it to me as a Christmas gift. The radio often played The Charlie Daniels Band's song “In America” (1980). Today, I listened to “Charlie Daniels Band's 'In America',” CBS (YouTube), 11/2/2009. Take a moment to listen to the song. Charlie Daniels went home on 7/6/2020. The song “In America” remains. I wish that this “new America” had the same unified conviction, as that America did back in 1980 (Iranian hostage situation, 11/4/1979 to 1/21/1981) and on 9/11/2001. That America had taken a couple of hard licks. That America was still standing.

Honor: Saturday, September 11, 2021

September 11, 2001, was 20 years ago. I still do not understand why the United States of America (USA) could not win the “war on terror” in a year or two. The USA and other Allies (British Empire, USSR, and other nations) beat the Axis powers (German Nazis, Italian Socialists, and Imperial Japanese) in less than four years. World War II was the last total war that the USA fought. After WWII, this nation started fighting “politically correct” wars. The USA tied in Korea, lost in Vietnam, won the Gulf War, and has lost the “war on terror.”

This once great nation lost the 20-year “war on terror,” during which an almost countless number of soldiers died or were injured permanently. All soldiers who served in that tragic “war on terror” are honored. This article honors all who served! The defeat was not the fault of soldiers. The fault rests on the shoulders of many politicians (Republicans and Democrats alike), who used poor judgment, by which the war was lost.

I have seen the memorial for Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss. It is at the Corryton Weigels (where my 2006 Frontier gets 100% gas), 2.5 miles from our house.

The source for the image below is from “How to honor Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss,” WVLT, by Ashley Bohle, 9/3/2021, which embeds Ashley Bohle's 9/3/2021 Twitter post that includes four photographs. The following is the fourth photograph:

Corryton is a small community in east Knox County, Tennessee. I don't know anyone by the last name of Knauss. I may have walked near and spoken briefly with someone named Knauss, while on mundane errands, but we didn't exchange names.

In May 2016, Ryan Knauss graduated from Gibbs High School, three miles from our house. He enlisted in the Army after graduation. He married. At age 23, Ryan Knauss was one of the 13 soldiers who died on 8/26/2021 in the terrorist bomb attack at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan. (Granny and Papaw Wood married on 8/26/1931.) His online obituary is available at “Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss,” Knox News, 9/8/2021, and at “Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss: April 7, 1998 - August 26, 2021,” Mynatt Funeral Home, Inc.

Yesterday, Saturday, September 11, 2021, a memorial service was held for Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss at 5 PM at the Gibbs High School Football Stadium. “Family and friends speak at public memorial for Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss,” WATE, by Kristen Gallant, 9/11/2021, updated 9/12/2021, includes a video and written record. My wife and I decided not to join the large gathering of people. Instead, I plan to print out this article and place the copy in the memorial box, which is behind the memorial wall at the Weigels. I hope that the memorial to Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss remains permanently at the Weigels.

The Usual: Saturday, September 11, 2021

Yesterday, Saturday, 9/11/2021, my youngest brother called at 8:11 AM. We talked for 44 minutes. His wife had managed to sprain her right foot severely. Later, my 2006 Frontier and I hauled trash. I got a haircut. My truck had a good handwashing and oil change. My truck and I went to the Tractor Supply. We came home just after Mrs. Appalachian Irishman had returned from Dollar General Store and IGA shopping, and before she went to visit her folks, 3.5 miles away. It was a usual Saturday.

September 11, 2021, was a routine day. The deeper memories and thoughts of 9/11/2001 and 8/26/2021 linger. Temporal life goes on, such as it is.

Conclusion

While my truck was getting his oil changed yesterday, I conversed with an older man. He is a veteran, who had tours of duty in Korea and elsewhere. He taught me a lesson. We stood. We looked eye to eye. We talked. We shook hands. I thanked him for his service.

I have weapons and ammunition and know how to stop a life threat if I need to do so. I may have too much ammunition. The veteran at the oil change location educated me. He said that I do not need more than one clip (about 15 rounds). He said that I could stop 15 attackers. An attacker that I hadn't stopped would get me. Then, the remaining attackers would take my weapons and the rest of my ammunition. I hadn't thought about it that deeply until yesterday. I will still keep the ammunition that I have.

Tony is my friend, brother in Christ, and barber. Yesterday, while he was giving me another great haircut, he and I conversed on several topics. We ended on a spiritual note. Tony and I are ready for the Good Lord to return. Yesterday, I spoke the following to the Good Lord in Tony's presence: “Dear Lord, please call everyone 'out of the pool' now!” He didn't. I was disappointed. I thanked the Good Lord for listening to my request again. I have made that request many times, asking for Christ's second coming.

My perpetually written prayer to the Good Lord is, “Dear Lord, please call everyone 'out of the pool' now! Come, dear Lord, soon!” He will eventually. His coming may not be in my lifetime. I hope it will be!

I place the temporal events of 9/11/2001, 8/26/2021, and 9/11/2021 into my everlasting perspective. This is how I endure the realities of this temporal life. Of course, temporal life is not all bad or evil. This world includes the good, bad, and ugly. I like the good. I endure, by evident faith, the bad and ugly. I hope in known and verified faith assurance. In the everlasting, I will think back on this article. I will smile.

I will keep turnin' right and goin' straight. I have accepted, and try to live in appreciation of, the Good Lord's free-gift offer of everlasting salvation. I'll get home eventually. I hope that you understand. If not, you are welcome to email me, using this website's Contact Form. I am one poor beggar who found the Bread of Life. I will be glad to share that Bread, if you wish to contact me.