Received this from a friend and thought it worth sharing.
The Miami Herald
Published Wednesday, September 12, 2001
We'll go forward from this moment
by Leonard Pitts
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.
(This was written by Miami-Herald Columnist Leonard Pitts, an African
American)
SKIP MAHONEY
Product Manager
Summit - A Fiserv Resource
Office: 541-766-7275
Fax: 815-364-1184
Email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: John Clogg [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 4:16 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] USA under attack
Nearly every politician who has been heard so far has referred to the attack
as an act of war. If it turns out that the Osama bin Laden organization is
behind this, and Afghanistan continues to harbor Laden and his deputies,
then one could consider us to be in a state of war with Afghanistan. A more
likely scenario, it seems, is attacks on specific targets in Afghanistan
(and other states that abet Osama bin Laden, such as Pakistan) without an
official declaration of war.
-----Original Message-----
From: David T Darnell [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 2:07 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: USA under attack
Dear MC,
Please indicate how your prediction is plausible.
-Dave
[log in to unmask] on 09/11/2001 02:57:00 PM
To: [log in to unmask]@Internet
cc: (bcc: David T Darnell/CO/KAIPERM)
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] USA under attack
Prediction - US will declare war on Afghanistan if Ben-Laden is not
surrendered to US Authorities.
mc
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