Dear George,

With the terrible tragedy of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, we in America are now confronted with a challenge.

The tremendous injustice of thousands of innocent lives lost is hard to bear. There is not, nor ever will be, a justification for such an act. We in America now taste some of the bitterness and anger that we have seen on the faces of those who have been victims of such tragedies throughout the world. I can feel within myself a desire to return such violence with violence in some desperate attempt to right the scales of justice. I can see and feel the way cycles of violence are perpetuated and escalate.

The people who are responsible for this must be found and held accountable for their actions. Our response must be with an eye towards making us safe tomorrow while not making a world that is even more dangerous for our grandchildren and their grandchildren.

Our victory in this crisis will not come in our blowing up people and making more parentless children in some other part of the world. Our victory will come in how we respond within ourselves as a people.

We must honor those lost by holding fast to the values that make us the great county that we are. What makes us great is that we struggle and strive to make real the promise of freedom, full participation, and opportunity.

If we change the best parts of who we are as a nation, or our goal of what kind of country we wish to be, then those who have committed this horrible act will have gained some measure of success. If however, we hold fast to what is good, and return no one evil for evil, and continue to honor our core values, then we will have triumphed.

We are being tested as a nation. Let us hope that we will not sink to the level of bloodlust like those who have attacked us. Let us show what kind of people we can be.

David M. Saunier (electronic mail, September 13, 2001).