Fw: The BEST article I've seen yet on 9-11

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>Subject: The BEST article I've seen yet on 9-11

>Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 12:31:26 -0700 (PDT)

>

>This editorial appeared in the Miami Herald yesterday --

>Wednesday,

>September 12, 2001. The author is the much respected columnist

>Leonard

>Pitts, Jr.

>

>His column says a lot.

>

>

>

>Published Wednesday, September 12, 2001

>by Leonard Pitts, Jr. - Miami Herald

>

>

>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.

>

>

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