It’s a bit of a strange year for lamentations. Conservatives are generally bullish over the election results, and the most prominent deaths of the year are ones that are perhaps more causes of celebration than anything else. I am thinking here of Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. These evil Islamists all sought the destruction of Israel, America, and the West and are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans and thousands of innocents. The world is better off without them.

While we are glad to see the end of those who sought to destroy our way of life, we should also acknowledge the deaths of those who, in living, made the world a better place. Bob Beckwith was never a household name, but for a brief moment in 2001, he was the face of America’s resilience in the face of Islamist terrorism, an evil we are still fighting to this day. On Sept. 14, 2001, Beckwith, a New York City firefighter who spent three decades serving the people of New York, joined then-President George W. Bush on top of a firetruck at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center. Beckwith had been asked by someone he thought was a member of the Secret Service, but later identified as White House aide Karl Rove, to assess whether the truck was stable. He did so and then sought to get down. Bush, now on the truck, said, “Where are you going? You’re going to be right here with me.” Bush then put his arm around Beckwith and said those iconic and inspiring words, “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon.”

Another post-9/11 inspiration came from country music legend Toby Keith. His hit song, “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue,” written in just 20 minutes, had similar sentiments to those expressed by Bush on the firetruck, including the line, “And you’ll be sorry that you messed with/ The U.S. of A./ ‘Cause we’ll put a boot in your ass/ It’s the American way.” The song shaped his reputation, and he knew it. As Keith recalled, “Most people think I’m a redneck patriot. I’m OK with that.”

Ted Olson was also personally affected by 9/11. Olson was sitting in his office at the Department of Justice when his wife Barbara called him from one of the hijacked planes to say farewell. Olson notified other top officials of what was happening. It may have been the most famous moment in a long and distinguished career that also included service in former President Ronald Reagan’s Justice Department and successfully arguing the Bush v. Gore case in the Supreme Court. Olson’s support of some liberal causes late in life did not signal a departure from the conservative movement. He remained a member of the Federalist Society’s Board of Visitors to the end of his life.