The dust is beginning to clear, and so too our minds and hearts can see the light again.
This great nation and it's incredible people suffered a severe blow on September 11th. The blow staggered us and bloodied our noses, but we are still standing, ready and determined to unleash a counter punch.
My first reaction to the events of September 11th, 2001 was disbelief. I could not believe that anyone would strike out at Americans in this cowardly manner and murder so many innocent people. What could compel anyone to be so hateful? Circumstances cannot be so bad as to justify murder, be it to one person or the many thousands that were sacrificed so cruelly. I don't want to think that humans can be that evil. I have called the actions an act of war, and it is no different then what Hitler did to much of Europe's and Great Britain's civilian populations, and I don't even want to get into the terrible holocaust. This is not the first act of terror against our people, and Hitler was allowed to perpetrate terror and murder against innocent people for quite some time before America finally decided to do something about it. The cost in lives as the result of Hitler's actions was no less nor more horrendous then the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and prior terrorist attacks against us. I don't think we should wait to respond as we waited when dealing with Hitler. Our experience with Hitler proved that by waiting to deal with a murderer, more lives are lost the longer we wait. The events of September 11th will touch the lives of the entire world as did the events of WWII.
Our response to terrorists should leave no doubt that there is a price to pay for evil deeds. What I don't want to see is, in our passion to punish the wrongdoers, we lose sight of our humanity and our love for the human spirit. We must not allow our spirits to be lost to the dark side. President Bush has said that freedom and democracy is under attack, and I agree. More important, however, our love and compassion is under attack. The forces of evil want us to hate them as they hate us, we cannot allow this to happen! We cannot combat hate and evil with hate and evil lest we ourselves become what we have vowed to eliminate.
I want to express my gratitude to everyone that has rallied to the cause and given aid to those who are suffering. The spirit of America is alive and well. I wish I could give you all a great big hug.
|
