Fifteen years ago I had a literary agent, a lovely woman in New York who liked my writing. As a gesture of appreciation, on Monday, Sept. 10, 2001, I sent her a box via FedEx with some farm produce – tomatoes, beans, garlic, broccoli, onions, a small pumpkin, that kind of thing. As exotic and glittering as New York seemed to a rural housewife like me, this woman in New York thought the notion of being able to grow or raise one's own food was just as enchanting, and I wanted her to share some of the bounty.

The overnight box never got to her desk; for on the following morning, her world exploded.

At the time we were living in a tiny house on four acres in rural southwest Oregon. Our girls were 3 and 5 years old. We had plans to move and were tentatively exploring West Virginia.

On that bright, beautiful, grim morning, my husband was still sleeping, having returned late from a business trip. I watched as the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center. Then I went into the bedroom and shook him gently.

"I'm sorry to wake you up," I said, "but we're being attacked."

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He jumped awake. "Who's being attacked?"

"We are. The United States."

He scrambled out of bed, and together we watched the events of that horrible day unfold. We scrapped any plans to move east – "closer to the insanity," as my husband put it.

My agent finally emailed a week after 9/11 to let me know she was OK, to thank me for the box of produce that finally arrived and to inform me she had decided to quit her job to become a full-time mom to her boys – a decision I wholeheartedly understood and supported.

In the wake of that horrible day, there are many who pledged never to forget. But we have. We are. Just today, it was reported a history professor at Saddleback College in Southern California tore down some "Never Forget" posters put up by students as a memorial.

From a psychological standpoint, it is necessary and important to "forget" grief with the passage of time. Anyone who has ever lost a loved one would not wish to bear the fresh agony day after day, year after year, without the merciful blunting of anguish that comes with distance.

But unlike the pain of losing a loved one, where eventually the agony of loss is replaced with loving memories of his or her virtues, America is forgetting the pain of 9/11 and replacing it with something far worse. We are inviting a repeat of the trauma.

You see, the world changed on that date. The collective blinders were ripped off. We saw evil manifested here on our shores. We could no longer claim it only happens "over there" to "someone else."

The crisis we're watching in Europe will be unfolding soon enough within our own borders. Our government is inviting in – welcoming with open arms – hundreds of thousands of people whose designs upon America are nefarious at best and unspeakable at worst. The logic behind these open doors absolutely defies rationality or belief.

Our nation has a proud history of immigration. I am the granddaughter of immigrants and have three foreign-born, legally-immigrated sisters-in-law of all skin tones; but as Bobby Jindal so aptly said, "Immigration without assimilation is an invasion." Legal immigrants who assimilate and become Americans are one of our greatest treasures. These are the people who are grateful for America's freedom and abundance, and desire nothing more than to work hard, raise families, contribute to the economy, teach their children English and otherwise – well, assimilate.

But that's not the kind of people making the news lately. We are being invaded – not stealthily, not brutally, but openly and mockingly and with the full cooperation of our own traitorous, treasonous government. For some bizarre, unfathomable and seemingly insane reason, our elected leaders see fit to invite the most barbaric and openly hostile people from across the world to settle in our peaceful communities, to draw welfare in perpetuity, to rape our women and children, to butcher our men, to spend their leisure time planning (and implementing) terrorist acts of unspeakable brutality and to murder any descendants who commit the cardinal sin of assimilating into Western culture.

What progressives refuse to recognize is that the immigrants who contribute to America's strength come from cultures and religious backgrounds compatible with Western values. Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, atheists, black, white, brown, pink, purple … America's willingness to take in people of every background has led to the beautifully diverse culture we enjoy today.

But what about immigrants who long to conquer and kill? What about immigrants whose culture and "religion" (in reality, a political ideology thinly dressed up with the trappings of faith) are so antithetical to the Constitution and Bill of Rights that they are incompatible? What about immigrants who will not – ever – assimilate, and who will spend the next several generations plotting ways to overthrow our nation so they can establish their own?

At some point, America will face another 9/11. It is inevitable. Do you think it will be conducted by Buddhists? Hindus? Christians? Pagans? Of course not.

When you have cancer, the only way to survive is to cut it out. Otherwise it will metastasize and take over the entire body, eventually killing it.

Contrary to the "We will never forget" platitude, our government desperately wants us forget. They're working very hard to bury the national pain and agony of that day. Washington actively negates 9/11 by doing everything it can – willfully, treacherously – to make sure it will happen again. Can anyone please explain to me WHY?

One thing has become clear: It has come to the point where we fear our own government just as much as we fear terrorists. Both are actively planning the overthrow of America as we know it. Both are capable of taking away our freedom and independence. Both, for whatever reason, loath and despise real Americans.

We are facing a critical election this fall. Whatever your opinion of the candidates, the fact is one wants more open immigration, and the other wants it controlled. One wants to reduce the Second Amendment, the other wants to support it.

But right now, the only thing keeping us from becoming the next Europe – the only thing – is the Second Amendment. That's it.

Never forget.

Media wishing to interview Patrice Lewis, please contact [email protected].

