Guest guest Posted September 17, 2001 Report Share Posted September 17, 2001 The barbarians will learn what America is all about > > By Leonard Pitts Jr. > Syndicated columnist > > 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 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. > > 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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