The following was sent to me by a friend.
It certainly speaks for me and I am sure the majority of the American people.
We must remember that the terrorists were fanatical, unconscionable people.
They did not and do not represent the religion of Islam or the Muslim people.
I emailed the writer, Leonard Pitts, my appreciation for his article.
They pay me to tease shades of
meaning from social and
cultural issues, 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, cultural,
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 of 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 assured
by arsenals.
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 its 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 indeed, 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 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.You see,
there is steel beneath this
velvet. 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.
Still, I keep wondering what
it was 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
about. You don't know what you
just started.
But you're about to learn.
(Leonard Pitts is a columnist
for the Miami
Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami,
Fla., 33132.
Readers may contact him at (888)251-4407
or via
e-mail at leonardpitts(at)mindspring.com.)
The Miami Herald
Distributed by Tribune Media
Services, Inc
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