Remembering 9/11 Dr
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Remembering 9/11 Dr. Herbert London Despite “our hole,” downtown New York is alive, prospering, and electric with possibilities. In many essential ways this description is a metaphor for the United States five years after the 9/11 attacks. Dr. Herbert London is Our country has been president of Hudson Institute scarred but remains resilient. in New York City. The former The attack has clearly affected John M. Olin University American attitudes. People Professor of Humanities at New are wary about unidentified York University, he founded the packages in the subway Gallatin School there in 1972 system, and September 11 and was its dean until 1992. continues to be a day of His social commentary has remembrance and sadness. appeared in major newspapers However, the dynamism and journals throughout the that characterizes the United United States. States is undiminished. As I stood on Church rom the building I Street staring at the WTC reside in, I can see the site last September 11, five FWorld Trade Center tourists asked if I would (WTC) site, where a hole join them for a spontaneous in the ground is a constant rendition of “God Bless reminder of the 9/11 terrorist America.” My wife and I attacks on the United States. sang as tears rolled down our But in the area surrounding cheeks. We were united with the WTC site, what we local strangers who wished to recall residents call “our hole,” there Talaie/CORBIS © Ramin what America stands for. We is extraordinary development. Construction continues at Seven World Trade Center, which was were sad but steadfast; united The Goldman Sachs destroyed during the attacks on September 11, 2001. in our appreciation of America building is going up across and determined to resist those the street. A supermarket is being built two blocks away. who would destroy our way of life. High-rise buildings seem to rise magically, as if defying To some degree, 9/11 has faded from our collective construction requirements. Battery Park, where there are memory. Patriotic sentiment is recalled, as my experience sweeping views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, would suggest, but it has lost its immediacy. What is most has been refurbished with a magnificent fountain and noteworthy is that the spirit of America remains intact. new gardens. A dramatic tunnel is under construction, William Tyler Page wrote in American Creed, “I … connecting the subway system to the Staten Island ferry believe it is my duty to my country to love it, support its terminal. Constitution, to obey its law, to respect its flag, and to AUGUST 2006 4 eJOURNAL USA eJOURNAL USA 5 AUGUST 2006 defend it against all enemies.” Surely there are many in Jacques Maritain once noted that what set the United this land of the free who have the constitutional right to States apart from other nations is that it is in “a continual disagree, but, in my opinion, the overwhelming majority state of becoming.” The destruction the nation endured of Americans embrace this sentiment. Pegged into this has forced Americans to look in the mirror to see strengths position are words such as love, honor, loyalty, pride, and warts, to regard the remarkable achievements and the devotion, and sacrifice, words that suggest an emotional challenges over the horizon. attachment. But patriotism for most Americans is not only There are, of course, those who embody the “historical reflexive emotion; it is also reasoned argument. grievance” position. What they see are only flaws. In each Alexis de overheated claim Tocqueville in they make, there Democracy in is an incremental America claimed that decline in the customs, traditions, spirit that sustains and a reverence patriotism. After all, for the past are why should anyone emphasized, but care about a nation that patriotism for of colonizers and Americans is a state imperialists, words of mind in which that have been “citizens … grapple transmogrified into with the various crimes? aspects of America Five years of which are not so reflection after rose-colored.” the 9/11 attacks As I see it, 9/11 have refurbished has brought to the Americans’ belief fore liberal patriots © Reuters/CORBIS in their country. A participant in a public meeting held by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and who believe that Port Authority holds a sign showing her support for rebuilding the site. In the end, even they must work for reasoned patriots political change consistent with their interpretation of the who carefully weigh errors, mistakes, tragedy, and national creed and conservative patriots who maintain accomplishment will find something positive on which to an allegiance to the nation based on what the Founding hang patriotic sentiment. Fathers intended. The differences are textured, representing That hole in the ground sits as a reminder of human perspective rather than the basic concepts, which remain frailty and imperfectability, but it has not sapped a belief in largely undisturbed. ourselves or the will for regeneration. September 11, 2001, was a fateful day for the nation, There is a park soon to be completed where the World yet remarkably the notion of “my country, right or wrong” Trade Center once stood majestically. Several days ago I has not gained a foothold. Americans may be justifiably walked on this newly constructed path, and in the shadow angry about those who would attack our land and people, of the Twin Towers that remains embedded in my mind, I but we are perpetually self-critical, as any viewing of noticed a row of seedlings about to blossom. television news would suggest. We also have a well- Five years ago there was only dust on that ground, ensconced memory of the good and a faith in our ability to now flowers are about to bloom. Here is the United States change when that is necessary. five years after 9/11: In the midst of despoliation, life Hence my recollection of the horror of five years appears doggedly fighting for a place in the sun. ago evokes a belief in human possibility and the stirring example of Americans who pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and look to shape the days ahead. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. government. AUGUST 2006 4 eJOURNAL USA eJOURNAL USA 5 AUGUST 2006.