On Thursday, American citizens everywhere remembered where they were and what they were doing on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. That’s when evil in the form of Islamic extremists made horrendous attacks on our homeland. They hijacked airplanes and crashed one into the Pentagon, and two into the World Trade Center. The towers collapsed from the extreme heat and stress, killing thousands of people including firefighters and other first responders at the scene. Another plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in Pennsylvania and not the U.S. Capitol because brave passengers made a stand, even at the cost of their own lives.

Thirteen years later, both the United States of America and the rest of the civilized world are openly threatened by members and followers of the Islamic State of Iraq. On Wednesday, President Barack Obama outlined his plan to confront and destroy these vicious terrorists. We look forward to seeing this carried out to a successful completion.

Meanwhile, we are also reminded that each dutiful citizen cannot idly sit by and wait for others to do the work of keeping all of us free. Americans may be called to serve in the armed forces, and we encourage that duty. For as Thomas Jefferson once remarked, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

For those of us who cannot bear arms, we can defend liberty by watching out for people and organizations that seek to undermine the principles of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. We can breed respect for our country and its flag by educating children on the nation’s origins and principles on which it was built.

Every day that we are living as Americans, we can be patriots.