Michelle Obama announced last year that September 11 would become a national day of service. Many college campuses took notice, and applied a “national day of service” theme to their events.
George Washington University followed the First Lady’s marching order to the extreme last year. GWU students volunteered to honor veterans and current enlistees, which only vaguely resembles a theme that should be embraced on 9/11.
To remember 9/11 this year, GWU has abandoned its vague resemblance of what a proper day of reflection should look like. Instead of honoring our nation’s veterans like last year, or remembering those who were murdered on 9/11, GWU students are being instructed to plant trees. The national day of service for September 11, 2010, at George Washington University has been titled, “Giving today for a greener tomorrow.”
You read that correctly: GWU students are being encouraged to treat the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks as a day to literally clean up their campus.
The GWU website states: “Plant the seeds of service by joining your classmates at Freshman Day of Service 2010. Clean rivers, plant trees and participate in other service projects focused on sustainability and helping our neighbors throughout DC. Let's work together and make a difference!”
Sustainability? Is that really what GWU students should be focusing on? It has only been nine years, and college administrators are already turning what should be a day of reflection into another chance to indoctrinate students.
Clearly this is an attempt to coax students into buying into the man-made global warming myth, but the real inconvenient truth is that on September 11, 2001, we were attacked by radical jihadists, and many innocent lives were lost.
Perhaps they should put down their gardening gloves for one day and remember the mothers, fathers, daughters and sons who were murdered in New York City, Pennsylvania, and a few miles away from their own campus at the Pentagon.
On the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks this year, campuses across the country will participate in Young America’s Foundation’s “9/11: Never Forget Project.” The project encourages students to build a flag memorial consisting of 2,977 flags, each one representing a person murdered by the radical jihadists. YAF’s chapter at GWU has consistently participated in this project. It is unfortunate that their efforts are being undermined by the left’s efforts to green the campus on the same day.
Perhaps there are those who think that September 11 is already adequately recognized on college campuses. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. If it weren’t for these students who participate in the “9/11: Never Forget Project,” the anniversary would not be recognized at all. We receive news about schools attempting to censor this event and it gets worse every single year.
Michelle Obama’s call for September 11 to be a “national day of service” is a façade. The left looks back on the aftermath of the attack—unity, patriotism, et cetera—and cringes. The further they can put the attacks from our minds, the better.
