9/11 Remembrance Day

September 11, 2010

It has been nine years since a small group of fanatics, driven by their intolerance and hatred, claimed the lives of thousands of Americans in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. The memory of those terrible events still haunts us, a national loss that will forever stand as one of the most devastating days in our shared history.

The men who planned and carried out that attack on our nation, our people, and our values believed that they could destroy America with a single coordinated act of terrorism. They were wrong. We survive as a country and as a society because we still hold dear the very aspects of our culture that they despised. We continue to subscribe to those self-evident truths that established our vision as an independent people: All men—and all women—are created equal.

We are a land of many races, religions, beliefs and philosophies, and we are a great land because our national conversation includes so many voices.

Today, as we remember those who lost their lives, those who lost loved ones, and those who still fight to defend the beliefs that are this country’s foundation, let us not forget that the best way to declare our strength and unshakable will is to maintain our dignity and tolerance as a society. We will not succumb to hate, whether others direct it at us or we are tempted to direct it at others. We will not close our minds to those who are different, simply because they are different. We will embrace the complicated, beautiful diversity of our American society because to do less would be to surrender.

Today, as we remember our loss, let us also remember how we stood together as a nation, and how the world stood with us. Let us remind ourselves and each other that such unity does not come only in times of tragedy. And today, above all days, let us hope for peace.