TheFontMaster
06-16-2004, 09:15 PM
Okay I was looking through last years year book and came across this. It was written by a sienor, and is really good. His name is Robert Fitzgibbon, and he has been going to west point for the last year, and is now a cadet i belive.
Every person of every generation experiences at least one defining moment in thier life. One of these moments for me, and certainly for many of you, occured in the morning hours of a warm September day one year ag. As two of the most recognizible symbols of American sovereignty were attacked with out any fiber of human decency or remorse, we, and all Americans, were forced to rcognize our vulnerabilities, our insecurities, and most unnerving of all, our morality. Regious zealots, committing mass murder in stalk contradicion of the relighion they proffess to fight for, wanted to make our nation, 285 million strong, cower in fear of thier methods, and agenda for the world. For a split second on September 11th, 2001, America was afraid. America was weak.
But only for a split second. Before the dust cleared from the World Trade Center or the Pentagon, even before the fires were extinguished, America found strenght. We found a strenght stronger than millions of tons of steel and concrete, one that burns hotter and brighter then a thousand pounds of jet fuel, a strenght more vast than the sky, but one that can be directed with the sheer precision of a marksman's bullet. America found a strenght independent of wealth, and poverty and natural recources. A strenght in great disporportin to her population. America found it's strenght of character as one nation, as one republic, and as one people.
Hundreds of brave firefighters and police officers, not unlike those from our own area, sacraficed there lives without hesitation in order to save the inocent. A handful of pasengers on flight 93 overtook thier hijackers, preventing it's use as a weopon of mass destructionat the cost of thier own lives as it crashed in a Pennsyvnian field. Our military scrambled to secure our skies, ports, and borders, and to protect our government oficials. Millions of dollors were donated to the bereaved by thier fellow americans, strangers who could barley concive what such a loss could possibly be like. Many americans donated blood, and what was once a deficit quickilly turned into a reserve. In the months that followed, our millitary crushed al-Qaida cells in Afghanistan while liberating it's people from a reactionary theocracy and replacing it with self rule. While we felt vindicated when we terorized the terroorists, we were not, are not now, and will never be motivated simply by revenge. Our interests are in self preservation and the safety of democracy, liberty, and justice. Nothing more. Certainly nothing less.
Besides our strenght of character, we have rediscovered our our faith in our institutions. In the blink of an eye, the widespread cynicism of our political process was replaced by an almost primal and universal love for it, and an urge to defend it. As global spotlight shifted to the opressed nation of Afghanistan, we rediscovered our freedom of speach, religion, press and assembly;Our right to a fair trial;Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.
Here is what I ask you to reflect. Ask yourself: "Did it take the deaths of three thousand Americans to make me aware of all that I have?"
Most of us, if not all of us, were fortunate enought to have our rights gaurenteed to us from birth. I belive that all of us must earn our rights through selfless service to our nation, to each other and to our community. I urge you to give blood, donate to charity, be kind to others, and give asistance whenever you can, to whoever needs it. Whenever the company of people from other parts of the globe, dispel the steriotypes of the ignorent, lazy, complacian American. When we help make each other strong, we make America strong. We become herosin the war of terror, not by chance, like those who died on September 11, but by choice, for togerther our faith is firmly in our hands.
But for all the good we can do on the outside, the real battle is on the inside. Terrorism is defined as "...the use of violence to intimidate or subjugate, to propagate fear". The only way to defeat an enemy who employes terroris to decisevly and loudly unafraid. This is the critical first step; only after we defeat the enemy within can we defeat an enemy overseas. And when America is made safe again, through hard work that will largely be acomplished by our genneration, ourenterprising spirit will once again reach for the sky as tower 1 and tower 2 of the world trade center once did.
Robert Fitzgibbon
Every person of every generation experiences at least one defining moment in thier life. One of these moments for me, and certainly for many of you, occured in the morning hours of a warm September day one year ag. As two of the most recognizible symbols of American sovereignty were attacked with out any fiber of human decency or remorse, we, and all Americans, were forced to rcognize our vulnerabilities, our insecurities, and most unnerving of all, our morality. Regious zealots, committing mass murder in stalk contradicion of the relighion they proffess to fight for, wanted to make our nation, 285 million strong, cower in fear of thier methods, and agenda for the world. For a split second on September 11th, 2001, America was afraid. America was weak.
But only for a split second. Before the dust cleared from the World Trade Center or the Pentagon, even before the fires were extinguished, America found strenght. We found a strenght stronger than millions of tons of steel and concrete, one that burns hotter and brighter then a thousand pounds of jet fuel, a strenght more vast than the sky, but one that can be directed with the sheer precision of a marksman's bullet. America found a strenght independent of wealth, and poverty and natural recources. A strenght in great disporportin to her population. America found it's strenght of character as one nation, as one republic, and as one people.
Hundreds of brave firefighters and police officers, not unlike those from our own area, sacraficed there lives without hesitation in order to save the inocent. A handful of pasengers on flight 93 overtook thier hijackers, preventing it's use as a weopon of mass destructionat the cost of thier own lives as it crashed in a Pennsyvnian field. Our military scrambled to secure our skies, ports, and borders, and to protect our government oficials. Millions of dollors were donated to the bereaved by thier fellow americans, strangers who could barley concive what such a loss could possibly be like. Many americans donated blood, and what was once a deficit quickilly turned into a reserve. In the months that followed, our millitary crushed al-Qaida cells in Afghanistan while liberating it's people from a reactionary theocracy and replacing it with self rule. While we felt vindicated when we terorized the terroorists, we were not, are not now, and will never be motivated simply by revenge. Our interests are in self preservation and the safety of democracy, liberty, and justice. Nothing more. Certainly nothing less.
Besides our strenght of character, we have rediscovered our our faith in our institutions. In the blink of an eye, the widespread cynicism of our political process was replaced by an almost primal and universal love for it, and an urge to defend it. As global spotlight shifted to the opressed nation of Afghanistan, we rediscovered our freedom of speach, religion, press and assembly;Our right to a fair trial;Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.
Here is what I ask you to reflect. Ask yourself: "Did it take the deaths of three thousand Americans to make me aware of all that I have?"
Most of us, if not all of us, were fortunate enought to have our rights gaurenteed to us from birth. I belive that all of us must earn our rights through selfless service to our nation, to each other and to our community. I urge you to give blood, donate to charity, be kind to others, and give asistance whenever you can, to whoever needs it. Whenever the company of people from other parts of the globe, dispel the steriotypes of the ignorent, lazy, complacian American. When we help make each other strong, we make America strong. We become herosin the war of terror, not by chance, like those who died on September 11, but by choice, for togerther our faith is firmly in our hands.
But for all the good we can do on the outside, the real battle is on the inside. Terrorism is defined as "...the use of violence to intimidate or subjugate, to propagate fear". The only way to defeat an enemy who employes terroris to decisevly and loudly unafraid. This is the critical first step; only after we defeat the enemy within can we defeat an enemy overseas. And when America is made safe again, through hard work that will largely be acomplished by our genneration, ourenterprising spirit will once again reach for the sky as tower 1 and tower 2 of the world trade center once did.
Robert Fitzgibbon