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It's my job to
have something to say. They pay me to provide words that help make sense
of that which troubles the American soul. But in this moment of airless
shock when hot tears sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing I can find to
say, the only words that seem to fit, must be addressed to the unknown
author of this suffering. You monster. You beast. You
unspeakable bastard. What lesson did you hope to teach us by your
coward's attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? What was it
you hoped we would learn? Whatever it was, please know that you
failed. Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your
cause. Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.
Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together. Let me
tell you about my people. We are a vast and quarrelsome family, a
family rent by racial, social, political and class division, but a family
nonetheless. We're frivolous, yes, capable of expending tremendous
emotional energy on pop cultural minutiae -- a singer's revealing dress, a
ball team's misfortune, a cartoon mouse. We're wealthy, too, spoiled by
the ready availability of trinkets and material goods, and maybe because
of that, we walk through life with a certain sense of blithe entitlement.
We are fundamentally decent, though -- peace-loving and compassionate.
We struggle to know the right thing and to do it. And we are, the
overwhelming majority of us, people of faith, believers in a just and
loving God. Some people -- you, perhaps -- think that any or all of
this makes us weak. You're mistaken. We are not weak. Indeed, we are
strong in ways that cannot be measured by arsenals. Yes, we're in
pain now. We are in mourning and we are in shock. We're still
grappling with the unreality of the awful thing you did, still working to
make ourselves understand that this isn't a special effect from some
Hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot development from a Tom Clancy novel.
Both in terms of the awful scope of their ambition and the probable final
death toll, your attacks are likely to go down as the worst acts of
terrorism in the history of the United States and, probably, the history
of the world. You've bloodied us as we have never been bloodied before.
But there's a gulf of difference between making us bloody and making us
fall. This is the lesson Japan was taught to its bitter sorrow the last
time anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone brought us such abrupt
and monumental pain. When roused, we are righteous in our outrage,
terrible in our force. When provoked by this level of barbarism, we will
bear any suffering, pay any cost, go to any length, in the pursuit of
justice. I tell you this without fear of contradiction. I know my
people, as you, I think, do not. What I know reassures me. It also causes
me to tremble with dread of the future. In the days to come, there
will be recrimination and accusation, fingers pointing to determine whose
failure allowed this to happen and what can be done to prevent it from
happening again. There will be heightened security, misguided talk
of revoking basic freedoms. We'll go forward from this moment sobered,
chastened, sad. But determined, too. Unimaginably determined. You
see, the steel in us is not always readily apparent. That aspect of our
character is seldom understood by people who don't know us well. On this
day, the family's bickering is put on hold. As Americans we will
weep, as Americans we will mourn, and as Americans, we will rise in
defense of all that we cherish.
So I ask again: What was it you hoped to teach us? It
occurs to me that maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your
hatred. If that's the case, consider the message received. And take
this message in exchange:
You don't know my people. You don't know what we're
capable of.
You don't know what you just started.
But you're about to learn.
I pledge allegiance
to the
flag of the United States
of America and
to the
Republic for
which it
stands. One Nation, under
GOD, indivisible, with
Liberty and justice for all. |
Marine Corps
flag stands watch as a silent sentinal of the recent destruction at the
Pentagon.
America,
Pentagon Still Strong
|
