It has been seven years since the occurrence of the most horrific attack on American soil in our lifetime. It is a time to remember, a time to reflect. Many people are speaking today, worried that somehow we’ll forget what happened on 9/11/01. Our grandchildren may look at this as merely a date in history class, but there’s no chance any of us who experienced that day will ever forget–ever.
I’d like to reflect on President Bush’s inspirational words on November 8, 2001, in the wake of this disaster. There are several quotes from this speech that should still resonate with us today:
We are a different country than we were on September the 10th — sadder and less innocent; stronger and more united; and in the face of ongoing threats, determined and courageous. (Applause.)
This new enemy seeks to destroy our freedom and impose its views. We value life; the terrorists ruthlessly destroy it. We value education; the terrorists do not believe women should be educated or should have health care, or should leave their homes. We value the right to speak our minds; for the terrorists, free expression can be grounds for execution. We respect people of all faiths and welcome the free practice of religion; our enemy wants to dictate how to think and how to worship even to their fellow Muslims.
A terrorism alert is not a signal to stop your life. It is a call to be vigilant — to know that your government is on high alert, and to add your eyes and ears to our efforts to find and stop those who want to do us harm.
I recently received a letter from a 4th-grade girl that seemed to say it all: “I don’t know how to feel,” she said, “sad, mad, angry. It has been different lately. I know the people in New York are scared because of the World Trade Center and all, but if we’re scared, we are giving the terrorists all the power.” In the face of this great tragedy, Americans are refusing to give terrorists the power. (Applause.) Our people have responded with courage and compassion, calm and reason, resolve and fierce determination. We have refused to live in a state of panic — or a state of denial. There is a difference between being alert and being intimidated — and this great nation will never be intimidated. (Applause.)
People are going about their daily lives, working and shopping and playing, worshiping at churches and synagogues and mosques, going to movies and to baseball games. (Laughter and applause.) Life in America is going forward — and as the 4th-grader who wrote me knew, that is the ultimate repudiation of terrorism. (Applause.)
And something even more profound is happening across our country. The enormity of this tragedy has caused many Americans to focus on the things that have not changed — the things that matter most in life: our faith, our love for family and friends, our commitment to our country and to our freedoms and to our principles.
I recently received a letter from a 4th-grade girl that seemed to say it all: “I don’t know how to feel,” she said, “sad, mad, angry. It has been different lately. I know the people in New York are scared because of the World Trade Center and all, but if we’re scared, we are giving the terrorists all the power.” In the face of this great tragedy, Americans are refusing to give terrorists the power. (Applause.) Our people have responded with courage and compassion, calm and reason, resolve and fierce determination. We have refused to live in a state of panic — or a state of denial. There is a difference between being alert and being intimidated — and this great nation will never be intimidated. (Applause.)
People are going about their daily lives, working and shopping and playing, worshiping at churches and synagogues and mosques, going to movies and to baseball games. (Laughter and applause.) Life in America is going forward — and as the 4th-grader who wrote me knew, that is the ultimate repudiation of terrorism. (Applause.)
And something even more profound is happening across our country. The enormity of this tragedy has caused many Americans to focus on the things that have not changed — the things that matter most in life: our faith, our love for family and friends, our commitment to our country and to our freedoms and to our principles.
The message was clear, we need to learn from the tragedy. We may not be as trusting anymore, and our senses are heightened to threats and risks. But the thing which most thwarts the terrorists is to move on and live our lives as a productive, peaceful, and principled people. This is ultimately what the terrorists sought to destroy, not our lives, but our way of life.
No one has ever denied us as individuals or as a nation to experience and deal with our grief. But grief is a process. There are seven accepted stages of coping with grief:
- Shock & Denial
- Pain & Guilt
- Anger & Bargaining
- Depression, Reflection, and Loneliness
- The Upward Turn
- Reconstruction & Working Through
- Acceptance & Hope
As a nation, where are we? Stuck at stage 3. Try as we might, it is impossible to move beyond the collective anger and fear when the wound is constantly reopened by those whose power is contingent on propagating that culture of fear. If someone you cared about were still fearful and angry seven years after a loss, you’d be trying to get them into some sort of counseling to help them regain a healthy mental state. But as a nation, there is no such caring and objective friend we would trust to help us cope. We need to heal ourselves.
We have sacrificed over 4000 men and women and over a half-trillion dollars as a direct response to 9/11. Less stunning, but perhaps more important, is that we have allowed our political focus for seven years to be almost entirely terror focused. Meanwhile, our economy, domestic jobs outlook, trade imbalance, infrastructure, schools, energy policy, and much other work we need our government to attend to in order to preserve our way of life has been largely neglected. We have done to ourselves what no terrorist could have accomplished. We have sacrificed our freedoms and our future to appease our anger and our sense of justice. In this sense, the terrorists have won, or at least we have lost.
In the last stage of grief it is said:
You will start to look forward and actually plan things for the future. Eventually, you will be able to think about your lost loved one without pain; sadness, yes, but the wrenching pain will be gone. You will once again anticipate some good times to come, and yes, even find joy again in the experience of living.
We need to find our national joy again. We need to plan for our future, and our children’s future. This doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten the past. It doesn’t dishonor those who’ve sacrificed. Quite the opposite. The greatest monument to the sacrifice of the past is the success of the future.