As we, the American people, struggle to deal with this new world brought about by last week’s atrocities, we must take a step back from the anger and frustration and ask ourselves what can be learned.
What events triggered this horrendous attack on American soil? What signs did we, not just the intelligence community, but the entire country and world, fail to recognize? How can we prevent an event like this from ever happening again?
We must understand what actions the United States and its allies have taken to enrage these certain groups. We must re-evaluate our military, economic and diplomatic policies relating to terrorist groups and the states that harbor them. What we have done so far has obviously failed, creating this anger.
We must also understand how our economic dependence on foreign labor and resources makes isolation from these peoples impossible and unilateral American action unfeasible. We must, by taking an active role in the countries we interact with, combat terrorism by promoting democracy and law. Only by including all peoples of all countries in civil debate can we ever hope to eliminate anti-American sentiment. We must not haphazardly make demands on foreign countries for our own economic gain. We must include them in the decision-making process to ensure their people benefit from our American presence. We must understand that there is more than just numbers behind our global economy, but people forming a global community.
Let us not forget America is the lone super power in the world and we must use this power wisely. We must lead. We must raise the standard of living and civility throughout the entire world, spreading our democratic tradition and rule by law to people of every class and creed. Only through this can we hope to eliminate the need and want to resort to violence.
“We have seen the face of evil,” President Bush said the night following the attacks on Washington and New York, but we have also seen how great our nation is. From the ashes and smoke, we have all been reminded of the countless blessings our country provides, and how strong we are. And though these attacks have threatened our homeland, they must not threaten our ideals.
America still stands as the greatest beacon of freedom to the world, and this must never change. We must use this crisis to bring about a new, more peaceful world. Using the words of Abraham Lincoln, during a time of similar crisis, we must resolve that “these dead shall not have died in vain – and this (world) shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from this earth.” We will rise to this new challenge, and we will prevail.
