The picture of the three firefighters lifting the flag at Ground Zero was almost excluded from the 9/11 museum because it was too pro-America

When one looks back on September 11th, 2001 and thinks about the imagery of that day there are two photographs which probably come to the minds of many Americans.

One is the World Trade Center Cross rising up from the rubble; many people took this as a sign of hope and this image provided them with comfort during a very troubling and distressing time.

But not everyone saw this Cross that way however as an atheist group fought to keep the Cross from being included in the 9/11 Memorial and Museum because it was offensive to non-believers. Thankfully a Federal judge ruled that the Cross could be included in the museum.

The second photograph which comes to mind is the picture of the three firefighters standing amidst the rubble and hoisting the up the American flag in defiance of those who sought to break the will of the American people by carrying out the most successful attack on United States soil.

When I see this picture I see the bravery of the first responders who, without concern for their personal well-being, rushed to the scene while others were running from it with the intent of saving as many people as they could even though we did not know if the attack was over. I see the very heart and soul of the American people.

But sadly, if this story is true, not all Americans feel the same way about this picture.

According to the story the iconic picture was nearly excluded from the 9/11 museum because it was to “rah-rah American.”

Michael Shulan, the museum’s creative director, was among staffers who considered the Tom Franklin photograph too kitschy and “rah-rah America,” according to “Battle for Ground Zero” (St. Martin’s Press) by Elizabeth Greenspan, out next month. “I really believe that the way America will look best, the way we can really do best, is to not be Americans so vigilantly and so vehemently,” Shulan said

According to Shulan, America would be better off if Americans were not so pro-America. In the minds of at least some Americans one image is offensive because it is too pro-Christian while the other is offensive because it is too pro-America. Thankfully this image will be included in the museum but this has me thinking about what has happened in America since the attack.

Aside from the politically correct mindset which finds these two images to be offensive there are many things which have happened in America since the attack that has me thinking the terrorist have already defeated us.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack President Bush, with strong bipartisan support, signed the freedom and liberty stealing, unconstitutional PATRIOT Act into law, we cannot travel by plane without the TSA violating our rights and forcing us to succumb to illegal searches while being partially stripped down, the NDAA has deemed the United States a battlefield in the war on terror and authorizes the indefinite detention of Americans without charges, the FAA Re-authorization Act allows for spying on American citizens by unmanned drones, and most recently, the NSA is data-mining virtually every phone call and email correspondence without cause and without a warrant.

And if all of this wasn’t bad enough, in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing we saw defacto Martial Law declared in Boston and the surrounding towns and witnessed people forcibly having their homes invaded against their will and without warrants. I guess what bothers me most about these issues is the fact that more Americans are not upset with these stories, or simply accept them as the “new norm.”

As in the case of the PATRIOT Act, all of these measures received bipartisan support. Were are told that the terrorists hate us because of our freedoms, our liberties, and our Constitution and if this is true as I look at all the freedoms and liberties which were supposed to be protected in our Constitution violated on a daily basis I cannot help but think that somewhere the terrorists have a two word message for us–mission accomplished!

Americans would do well to remember the words of Benjamin Franklin: Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.