Jade Sabre
09-14-2001, 03:10 PM
> > Article to the "bombers" from a FL paper (nt)
> > Thu Sep 13 08:34:43 2001
> >
> > B Leonard Pitts
> > 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.
> >
> > IN PAIN
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > THE STEEL IN US
> >
> > 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.
> > Thu Sep 13 08:34:43 2001
> >
> > B Leonard Pitts
> > 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.
> >
> > IN PAIN
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > THE STEEL IN US
> >
> > 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.