80sU2isBest
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2000
- Messages
- 4,970
Miami Herald
================================================
Published Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Headline: We'll go forward from this moment
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.
IN PAIN
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.
THE STEEL IN US
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.
================================================
Published Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Headline: We'll go forward from this moment
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.
IN PAIN
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.
THE STEEL IN US
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.
