In Memory Of...
September 11, 2001
From Suzanne
from The Miami Herald
Thu, 13 Sep 2001 08:12:29 -0700
We'll go forward from this moment by Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald
"It's my job to have something to say. They pay me 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, social, 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 their 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, probably, 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 the 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, the steel in us is not always readily apparent. 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.
"So I ask again: What was it 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 capable of. You don't know
what you just started.
"But you're about to learn."
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| In Memory Of : JEFF DONALD MURPHY, 1947 - 2001, of Redmond, Deschutes County, OR, born in Bowling Green, Warren Co., KY, son of Powell Davis Murphy and Marjorie (Morrison) Murphy. Jeff was the founder of the KYGenWeb, USGenWeb, USBIOGRAPHIES and co-founder of KYBIOGRAPHIES. |
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For those of you who have ancestors in the Adair County area and may have done research, here, her name will be quite familiar. She was a former librarian at both Lindsey Wilson College and at the Adair County Public Library. She was the compiler and co-writer of several books related to Adair County history. Randy was a wonderful person and a superb genealogist. ______________________________________________________
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