Remembering and Responding

This morning, it's been ten years since the attacks.  Seared into our memories is the sickening horror of the moments, and the recollection of where we were when we heard the news and saw the pictures.  None will ever forget.  For a people, and a nation, the measure of our character is what we have done since that fateful morning to make the world a better and safer place.  I was interviewed this week (in French) for a Mauritian radio show retrospective on the 9/11 tragedies.  The reporter asked me whether the American wounds from that day were still fresh . . . I responded that certainly we mourn those we lost, but that the 9/11 attacks were not solely against America.  There were victims from over 90 countries, from all religions, and from all ages, infants to seniors.  I was asked if America had engaged in wars against Islam as a religion, to which I vehemently disagreed.   In the years of terrorist violence, most of the terror victims have been adherents of Islam . . . we have stood against those whose creed is terror, and whose goals are simply to kill innocents.  I also pointed out that America continues to work forcefully throughout the world in the cause of peace, democracy and human rights, and in the aid of those in poverty and humanitarian crises.   The radio interview aired on Mauritian radio yesterday, and I'm told it was well received as a statement of America's reaction to the 9/11 attacks.   As we pause to remember, I would recommend a visit to the Pentagon Memorial---it is a beautiful and peaceful tribute to those we lost that day. It is a place of commemoration and meditation.  It reminds us of our constant ability, and responsibility, to choose how we will respond to all situations in alignment with our cherished principles.