There are moments when we all remember exactly where we were and what we were doing.
For my parents, it was December 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor. For me, it was November 22, 1963, the assassination of President John Kennedy. For all of us, it was–and always will be–September 11, 2001.
Indelible moments. Infamous moments when the course of history shifted and our lives changed.
We know, of course, what happened after December 7 and November 22. However, we are still feeling our way through the aftermath of September 11. The terrorist attack that claimed thousands of lives not only indirectly took its emotional toll on all Americans but also directly affected the Union family through the loss of Thomas Duffy '71, Andrew Fredericks '83, Peter Freund '77, Don Kauth '74, Alexander Steinman '91, Christopher Quackenbush, husband of Traci Stine '80, and James Patrick, the brother of former hockey coach Kevin Patrick. Despite these immediate traumatic results, though, we won't know the historic effect of September 11 on this nation for years to come.
Certainly, we remember the days right after that unimaginable act of hatred and horror. We listened to our leaders call for revenge and retribution. We watched our military attack terrorist hiding places. We cheered acts of great bravery and sacrifice. We saw volunteer efforts on an unprecedented scale. We witnessed the worst of events bring out the best in people. And we began to make small accommodations to a heightened desire for safety, for, we were told, we were at war with terrorists.
But here it is, 365 days later, and–as with other
historic moments–many things are still unsettled. What is settled is that the fight against terrorism will be long. Experts on terrorism recognize that this “war” will be longer–far longer–than any war this nation has been engaged in and unlike any that we have fought before. Will we have the strength and will to fight what may well be a decades-long conflict around the globe? And will we be able to carry that fight without undermining the very rights that the terrorists sought to destroy? I think that we will summon the fortitude, and I want to believe that we will not relinquish any element of the Bill of Rights
in the process.
Surprisingly, for a nation at war with terrorists, we have not been asked to do more than to lead normal lives. We need to be asked to do more, as we were during other times of national peril, and we need to lead lives that better serve our country.
How best to serve is a matter of choice. Choice, of course, inevitably involves determining what is right and then doing it.
The question, obviously, is what is right. To some moral relativists, all philosophies have equal worth and all views are worthy, including those of the terrorists. According to these relativists, we should not therefore assign blame for the attack. I disagree.
If nothing else, September 11 demonstrates that there is right and wrong. Yes, different cultures approach issues in a variety of ways. However, there is–as the basic tenets of all religions hold–a universal right and wrong. The events of the past year demonstrate both this moral clarity and the failure of some to act in accord with those tenets.
We have read, over and over, that those who attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon did so convinced that their actions were justified. In their minds, they were right and we in the United States wrong. Yet, in the minds of most of the world–including millions of Muslims disturbed by the terrorists' perversion of their religion–killing thousands of innocent people in a cowardly attack is simply wrong.
We saw, and read about, the countless acts of bravery on September 11 and the days immediately afterward. We all cheered these examples of courage and compassion (as did much of the world), and we heard political and religious leaders urge a commitment to community, not self. Perhaps most heartening of all was the realization, for however a brief moment, of Martin Luther King's dream that we judge people on the content of their character, not the color of their skin. In the rescue effort, in the linking of arms in sorrow, color truly did not matter.
Character, of course, does matter. In that regard, we were astonished and outraged by the lack of character on the part of those who participated in corporate fraud on a huge scale. What an unbelievable contrast between the greed of a few and the generosity of so many! How could any American, especially now, have discarded any sense of morality, any sense of right and wrong, and steal from his fellow countrymen? How could any American undermine this nation's economic foundations from within while those very foundations are under attack from abroad?
As I noted, a defining moment in our history was the assassination of President Kennedy. That event came less than three years after he delivered one of this nation's most inspiring inauguration speeches–a speech in which he said that we must all ask ourselves not what our country can do for us, but what we can do for our country and what together we can do for the freedom of man.
It is still a good question to ask. Unfortunately, our leaders today don't ask it because, apparently, they don't want to ask us to do something unpopular. I wish that they would learn that it is not always right to do that which is popular and not always popular to do that which is right.
I also suspect that too many of us don't ask the question of ourselves; I certainly didn't in the early 1960's. To this day, I look back with deep regret at the fact that I did not leave the comfort of my home in the North to join those who marched and fought for civil rights in the South.
December 7, 1941, November 22, 1963, and September 11, 2001–horrible days all–that, in the first two cases, produced dramatic changes in Americans and America. I hope that September 11, 2001, will also produce change in all Americans, renew awareness that there is right and wrong in the world, and ignite a new spirit in this country.
Nurture that spirit. Develop further a solid core of values. Resolve to make those values a foundation that will serve you throughout your lives. And act on those values for your benefit and the benefit of your communities and country. Ultimately, that is the best and most lasting tribute that we can pay those whose lives were lost on September 11.