FW: I couldn't have said it better

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Freeman [mailto:scottyfreeman@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 2:08 PM
To: BoCraw@mail.utexas.edu; Brian.Freeman@delta.com; brianweisenberger@yahoo.com; bridgetc79@hotmail.com; dbutler@mail.utexas.edu; John.Caltagirone@guarantygroup.com; ccasey@mail.utexas.edu; christyallen79@hotmail.com; colefeinberg@yahoo.com; gfreeman@cscinfo.com; dana_feldman@hotmail.com; d.cave@mail.utexas.edu; kdunn12@hotmail.com; ryanf@us.ibm.com; sfitzpatrick77@hotmail.com; lefnparis@hotmail.com; greer.ut@mail.utexas.edu; jeffhurst@hotmail.com; jfmason@mail.utexas.edu; jason_leiker@hotmail.com; jayhills44@yahoo.com; jhalvatzis@houston.rr.com; JFreeman@ECM.RJF.com; Kan9jb@aol.com; mmatza@hotmail.com; mels_davis@yahoo.com; mikeconner12@hotmail.com; anm_mna@hotmail.com; Platter, Phillip; bpolarek@mail.utexas.edu; mpond23@hotmail.com; rlang@mail.utexas.edu; s.schar@mail.utexas.edu; slsandss@yahoo.com; wbauer@mail.utexas.edu; McCarroll, Zachary; Zallen9@aol.com
Subject: I couldn't have said it better

<
< I thought this was appropriate.
<
<
<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."
<
<
<
<
<
<

_____

Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com <http://go.msn.com/bql/hmtag_itl_EN.asp<