Charity Day?

Littlechild@emperorsnuclothes.com/ September 12, 2018/ Uncategorized

I have nothing against charity. The human instinct to give to those in need is one of our finest traits. I likewise have nothing against a calendar day that would serve as a reminder to all of us to “chip in” and make a difference. I was, however, quite dismayed to learn that there are some people now using the term “Charity Day” to refer to our September Eleventh tragedy.

The “Charity Day” meme had its origins in a charity founded in the months after 9/11 by the investment firm of Cantor Fitzgerald, which had lost over 600 employees in the 9/11/2001 Islamist attack on New York City’s World Trade Towers. The fund was intended to aid family members that lost loved ones, and providers, in the attack. As time passed and the victim’s families got on with their lives, both financially and emotionally, the fund’s mandate began to widen to other worthy causes. They have raised a total of 147 MILLION dollars for various charities. This year, the proceeds will go to Mattingly Charities (Founded by New York Yankee slugger Don Mattingly), that provides athletic equipment to disadvantaged youth in hopes of promoting positive and healthy sporting activities. This is, of course, all very admirable. So what’s my beef? Let me explain.

As mentioned above, I have nothing but admiration for charitable organizations such as Mattingly Charities and the philanthropic organizations such as Cantor Fitzgerald Charities that support them. What I AM against, however, is the name that Cantor Fitzgerald now uses for 9/11: Cantor Fitzgerald Charity Day.

Such factitious denomination is emblematic of the ubiquitous verbal sleight of hand that drains meaning from things and events that run counter to “contemporary sensibilities”. This phenomenon has been going on for quite some time. In fact, my daughter Elizabeth first alerted me to it in the 1990s. At that time, she noticed the sureptitious removal of religion from our religious holidays. She pointed out the absurdity of a Christmas Holiday, basically, WITHOUT CHRIST, saying that “Merry Christmas” had been replaced by, to use her words, “Happy Featureless Non Denominational Winter Holliday”. Since that time, unfortunately, we’ve seen this phenomenon again and again. “Happy Saint Patrick’s Day” turns into “Happy Shamrock Day”. “Happy Thanksgiving” into “Happy Turkey Day”. We now hear that some people want to replace “Columbus Day” with “Indigenous People’s Day.”

And, on top of all of this, Elizabeth also predicted that it would get WORSE. With a certain amount of irony, she wondered whether future generations will come to believe that it was Santa Claus, not Christ, that was born on Christmas Day. And, more relevant to the issue at hand here, she said that she wouldn’t be surprised that, at some point, in the manner of the movie Titanic, the movie “September Eleventh: A Love Story” would grace our theaters.

So, along these same lines, we now have “Cantor Fitzgerald Charity Day”. Charity Day? CHARITY DAY?? No sirs, I beg to differ. It is NOT “Charity Day”. It is a day when THOUSANDS of innocent Americans fell pray to demonic Islamist warriors with no regard for human life, that spewed murder and mayhem in our land. It is a day when many Trade Tower victims CHOSE to jump a THOUSAND FEET TO THEIR DEATH, rather than be BURNED ALIVE by the diesel fires that followed impact. It is a day when the courageous fire and police personell who rushed into the building, as well as the victims that couldn’t get out in time, were crushed to death by a million tons of steel and concrete. It was a day when the courageous heroes on United Airlines Flight 93 CHOSE TO FORCE THEIR AIRCRAFT INTO THE GROUND, sealing their own fate, rather than surrender to the attackers. It was a day when military and civilian workers at the Pentagon were incinerated as they sat at their desks by another plane filled with fuel. It was a day when the toxic detritus of the attack strickened thousands and caused diseases and cancers that, even today, SEVENTEEN YEARS later, beget pain and suffering and death on its innocent victims.

No, ladies and gentleman. It is NOT “charity day”. It is a day of both SORROW and RAGE. It is a day of determination. It is a day that formalized the war that we are still fighting. It is a day that, to borrow a phrase from President Franklin Roosevelt, speaking of Pearl Harbor in a more clear eyed time, will “LIVE IN INFAMY”.