In the aftermath of 9/11, this column was especially meaningful to me. The author, Leonard Pitts, won the Pulitzer for commentary. You can view a slideshow and hear him read it aloud here.
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.
When I read this, I thought, YES! It struck a deep chord in me, and the feeling that we were together – that we would put aside petty partisanship and rise, together, to fight a common enemy, was overwhelming. I thought of every WWII movie I’ve ever seen, I thought of the Stage Door Canteen movies and all the films like them, where everyone, whether they served in the military or not, served in some capacity. But it was not to be. For most of us, our lives have not changed at all.
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.
I too, tremble with dread of the future, but because of my doubt, not my confidence. I think something fundamental has changed with enough people in this country. They value peace more than life – not understanding that they will be permitted neither if we lose this war.
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.
Pitts was certainly right in his predictions – but I think that what so many on the left consider “basic freedoms” just don’t qualify. We will allow the naked censorship of the McCain-Feingold bill, yet do nothing to prevent classified information to be given to the enemy on the front page of our biggest newspaper. We allow international calls to be defined as “domestic” for the sake of slamming a political enemy with catchy phrases like “warrantless wiretapping.” Wonderful alliteration but not really reflective of reality. The war is so politicized, there isn’t even agreement on who we’re fighting and why, much less the best way to prosecute the war.
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.
In spite of all the infighting and confusion, we have hurt them, hurt them badly. They’ve admitted it, although you will be hard pressed to learn that if you rely on the media to tell you. I hope that it doesn’t take another message to be delivered in order for us to relearn the depth of their hatred. I hope that we learn, and that we teach the enemy, what we’re capable of – winning.
