Fruit of our victory

As the days pass without dramatic events in the war on terrorism, it is natural that some of the political, ideological and other sources of disagreement and conflict begin to reassert themselves. The various views on the precise form of economic stimulus the Congress should pass are just one example of this. We should not be surprised or disheartened by renewed political disagreement – it is the normal fabric of American political life. Rather than being discouraged that the easy national unity of the moment of crisis cannot last, we should pay close attention to the quality of that unity. We can draw lessons from it to help us manage our ordinary political affairs better than we otherwise would have done.

The terrible blow reminded us of the nature of our American faith, the principle upon which we stand together. Beyond the reach of every power and every agenda, outweighing anything we may individually want or hope to achieve, in spite of every lust and ambition, there is in each human life a dignity that commands the respect of us all. No human power can have any excuse for ignoring this dignity. We remembered this American faith when the terrorists, by their deeds, held up to us the image of hearts filled with the evil that is the opposite of the American heart. Recoiling in horror from a glimpse at souls that are incapable of recognizing the humanity of others, we remembered in that moment of horror what makes us the people we are. Our task now is to keep remembering.

Our history helps us remember. From the beginning, the American saga has been a uniquely hopeful one. Despite everything in human history militating against it, there has been raised in this country, in every era, a banner of conscience willing to make the sacrifices, willing to take the risks necessary to fight against man’s inhumanity to man in the name of the faith in human dignity that we profess.

The story of America vindicates the power of conscience. And the American conscience has borne great fruit for the world. We have stood in a position to terrorize the earth, and instead we have offered the earth its liberty. It is wise for us to remember this now. Of course, in America there remain challenges of justice and human dignity for us to overcome. But we are a people who have time and again proven that, though we are of the same mixed nature as all other human beings, given the chance, we will eventually do what’s right.

The countries that have systematically built up the network and infrastructure of terrorism over the past several decades are trembling now. The government policymakers responsible for leading their countries into complicity are deeply worried that we are going to come and get them. Ironically, their fear is aggravated by their imagining what they would do in our place. But we will not do what they would do in our place. For we have amongst us people of every race, color, nationality and creed. And we understand that the respect for all human persons that is the bedrock of our national creed applies not just to Americans, but to all those whom our founders declared to be created equal.

The inhumanness of the attack will be met with dignified strength, directed against those who perpetrated it, and conducted with the same humanity we have always shown. We will come out of this stronger and better for it, as we always do when calamity strikes at the heart of our nation. We will come out better and stronger partly because of the strength that we display, partly because of the restraint that will discipline that strength. Altogether, we will come out better because, by contrast with the terrorists we fight, we will have remembered again that we are united by our allegiance to the eternal truth of human dignity.

So we will remember who we are in the war that now begins. Our real challenge is to remember who we are in the less dramatic activities that make up the rest of our lives. Will we, in our politics and our business, in our families and our schools, resume the tasks of life with a renewed sense that we are one people, unified by the common ground of that principle which sees in every human face, in every human life the reflection of the will and goodness of the Creator, God?

In the days since the attack, Americans have been brought back to their faith. I mean this in the literal sense. It has been a time of prayer for us. In this prayer, let us remember that our very existence is a prayer of acknowledgement to the Creator’s wise authority. For He has formed and fashioned us with a dignity that we will defend, with the rights that we will preserve and with the hope for human destiny that we will not surrender. Remembering this is a noble cause even – perhaps especially – when we are not at war. Indeed, securing the opportunity to remember it in peace is the reason we now go to war, and will be the fruit of our victory.