LEST THEY FORGET!

Ten years ago today, our lives were changed by a mistake. Osama Bin Laden and others in Al Qaeda, too cowardly to give their own lives, sent nineteen misguided men on a quest to kill themselves and thousands of innocent Americans in an attempt to terrorize and fragment our nation. It was a mistake. They saw a nation they believed to be self indulgent, self centered and divided. It was a mistake. They believed their acts would cause us to shrink from our pre-eminent position in the world and withdraw, leaving them in charge. It was a mistake.

Their mistake was not merely in their actions but in their failure to appreciate the fundamental nature of America. Their mistake was in not learning history’s lessons, and thus repeating its mistakes. It was a mistake made even before we were a nation. Our resolve was underestimated by Britain in 1776 and again in 1812. Our unity was tested in the War Between the States that lasted four bloody years, yet before the Civil War, people said the United States “are,” and after they said the United States “is,” as we completed the merger into one nation.

World War I came and went, and the world still failed to understand the American spirit and in 1941, the Empire of Japan believed that a surprise attack upon us would prey upon our divisions and we would shrink from the fight. Again and again, people around the world have mistaken our political and ethnic divisions for weakness when, in reality, they are our greatest strengths. While there have always been some among us who would trade liberty for security, as a nation, we never have nor ever will.

Ten years ago, today, nineteen misguided men thought they would divide us, but instead we were re-united. They thought they would terrorize us, but instead we responded with bravery, heroism and self-sacrifice as the passengers of Flight 93 gave their lives to save others whom they would never meet and First Responders in New York and D.C. gave their own lives so that strangers might live. Since then, we have fought two wars, undergone economic upheaval, and had to re-evaluate our political and moral priorities, but underneath, the American spirit and belief in our future remains undiminished.

Today we pause to remember the heroes of 9/11. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do so but, in a larger sense we are once again reminding those who would repeat history’s mistakes that you may kill Americans, but not the dream that is America.

LEST THEY FORGET!