Remarks on 9-11

“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalms 30:5)

Times are clearly grave when an entire Nation asks itself for days and weeks on end “When can we smile again? When will it be okay to laugh? When will we stop crying?”

There isn’t one among us who doesn’t remember where we were and what we were doing on the morning of September 11th, 2001, when we learned our Country was under attack. When, after the initial shock and disbelief, we rushed to the nearest radio or television set, we bore witness to true horror. In the immediate aftermath, all Americans, and people the world over, from all walks of life felt uncertainty, anger, fear, and sadness for the murder of innocent Americans. For the bravery and sacrifice of the first responders, who gave their lives so that their countrymen might live - the tragedy of their loss is surpassed only by the measure of their heroism. As we remember and honor them today, we remember that verse from America the Beautiful:

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life.

“United we stand” was the phrase that became the antidote to our sadness – the bittersweet medicine of unity in the face of adversity, and the realization that all of our previous differences were small when compared to the pride in knowing that we are all Americans; knowing that, in order to make it through, we had to stay together, and we would help one another. The examples are innumerable:

Firemen, policemen, and paramedics who always look after each other in the face of danger, and whose families stayed together and prayed together for the safe return of their loved ones, continued to support and comfort each other throughout all uncertainty. Volunteer grief counselors, some of whom had lost loved ones years before in the Oklahoma City bombing, came to console the families of all those who had lost their lives. Blood donors, financial contributors, doctors, soldiers, all responded to the Nation’s needs. Throughout the entire United States, the richest and poorest among us stood in line and stayed on hold in our eagerness to help.

We didn’t do this because we were following somebody’s orders. And we didn’t do it out of some sense of guilt. Rather we did it out of selfless instinct – for the sake of humanity - knowing “I am my brother’s keeper.”

We have not forgotten. And we will never forget. Today, on this solemn occasion, we pay tribute to those who lost their lives, and who made the ultimate sacrifice to save their fellow man. And while we mourn their loss, let us also remember the ways in which we helped each other to heal. Let us celebrate our own resilience, our common humanity and compassion, and our pride as Americans in knowing that, though the towers fell, though the walls crumbled, and though many souls perished, still, united we stand.

Eight years have now passed since that fateful morning and, as a matter of course, much has changed around us. But we, nevertheless, hold fast to the principle that we are one Nation under God, and we are indivisible. Today, despite all the pain and anger that has marked the road we’ve traveled, we are stronger for it. There is more in life that we hold dear and there is less that we take for granted. Our faith is renewed, and the burning light within us - the spirit of the American ideal - has not been, and never will be extinguished.

As the song says:

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.