Remembering 9/11/2001

As I write this the names of the victims of 9/11 are being read in what has become a yearly ceremony of remembrance. Our shared grief for the innocent victims of the enemies of freedom is as painful today as it was 18 years ago. We share a scar that will never heal, a pain that will never end. Every year we hear the reading of the names of the victims, observe a moment of silence at the falling of each tower, hear the ringing of the bells in remembrance of the dead, hear the playing of Taps and our hearts ache for the victims and for their families. May God bless them all.

What the enemies of freedom, foreign and domestic, will never learn is that they can hurt us, but they will never destroy us. As the reading of the names clearly shows to anyone listening, America is a glorious mix of people from the four corners of the earth. Our greatest strength is our deep-level diversity that represents a coming together of people from all races, religions (and none), color, national origin, and ethical and political ideologies. We are stronger than the strongest steel, for our metal is forged in the fires of freedom with elements from all of humanity; our history is not a stagnant pool of standing water, but a raging river fed by tributaries that will never run dry; our national portrait is not rendered in black and white but in all the vibrant colors of the rainbow; our music is not a simple melody wrought from single notes but a glorious symphony that will never be silenced.

Terrorists and extremists of all stripes cannot destroy us. Only we can do that if we forget the source of our strength and listen to the voices that would divide us, silence us, marginalize our rational differences of opinion, and turn us against one another. E Pluribus Unum. Our strength in the days when our dream for freedom was realized. Our strength today. Our strength in all the days to come.