Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) told Breitbart News on Friday, the 19th anniversary of attacks by Islamic terrorists who murdered more than 3,000 Americans, that police officers being denigrated today are of the same character as New York City cops who lost their lives rescuing people on September 11, 2001.
Mast linked the “Never Forget” ethos with firefighters, police offers, and other first responders who lost their lives while helping others in peril. Today’s emergency responders embody the same heroism as those who died on 9/11, he stated.
“Those officers and firemen and women … didn’t die just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Mast said. “They died because there was a very dangerous situation that happened, and they went charging in. That’s something to never forget as we think about everything going on in the world today, and our police officers, especially, those are the men and women that went charging in that so many are yelling and screaming at today. They’re the same people.”
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National unity born through tragedy manifested on September 12, Mast remarked. “[It] was a day that we all woke up simply as Americans. It didn’t matter the color of our skin or our education or where we worshiped or anything else, what city we lived in or what we did. We all woke up that next day united as Americans. It was the most unified day of my life, and I pray that our country can get back to that”:
Mast, a veteran whose legs were amputated following an injury caused by an IED in Afghanistan, expressed gratitude for the sacrifice of fallen American soldiers.
Mast stated, “There’s not one day in my life that I would trade two legs and a finger for any one of my friends that’s still here. To be there for those times that you can save life, you have to be there for the times that it might take your own life, and I like to believe that for our friends that left this world, that that’s what they would say to us: ‘Listen, you know, we all had each other’s back, and in order to be there for the time that I could save your life, I had to be there for that time that it might have taken mine.'”
Mast praised America as a nation of opportunity.
“What America means to me is that every single day that I wake up under 50 stars and 13 red and white stripes, that means I wake up with opportunity,” Master declared. “I get to decide for myself whether today is better than yesterday or this week is better than last week or this month is better than last month or this year is better than last year. It doesn’t matter if I lost two legs and a finger yesterday.
Mast continued, “I get to decide tomorrow that it is a better day. That is what America affords every single one of us, regardless of who we are or where we come from. That’s a reason to have a smile on your face as an American every day.”
Mast concluded by highlighting the value of interpersonal and mutually reinforcing inspiration through self-improvement.
“There’s one thing in life that you can’t buy and you can’t sell,” Mast stated. “You can only have it manifested in this crazy way. That’s inspiration. We inspire each other with our actions, with the way that we look at one another and help one another, give each other a hand up, and encourage each other. You can’t take that away. You can’t buy it. You can only have it manifested in that unique way, and if you go out there and inspire others, I think you’re paying it forward, and you’re helping yourself, as well.”
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