Ladies and gentlemen of the
United States, citizens of the world - hello.
I am,
as are all of you, heartsick from the events that have just taken
place - the loss, the destruction, the mighty desperation and hatred
that must have driven our attackers to act. And I offer my sympathy,
my prayers, and all the resources at my disposal to aid in the rescue
efforts, the healing, and the rebuilding that needs to happen both
now, and for many weeks and years to come.
Many probably also expect that I
will apply all the political, technological, and military resources at
my disposal to uncover exactly who is responsible for these events,
and deliver unto them a mighty blow, smite them with the force of my
righteous wrath, declare all-out war on terrorism, and seek to expose
and destroy all the terrorists who threaten the world.
But I have been thinking...you
cannot fight a conventional war with a borderless enemy. Witness our
failure in Vietnam. Witness the War On Drugs, The War on Poverty.
I also believe that responding to
violence with violence leads to more violence, an escalation of
violence. Given the extent of this latest event, that kind of
escalation could be exponential. Perhaps it is expected, even desired
by those who attacked us.
Note that I said latest event,
and not inciting event. This is not the first act of terrorism
against us, not is it a first response. This was an eleventh hour act
of desperation.
And I tell you, while we
Americans are good at a great many things, two things we do not do
well are taking responsibility for our mistakes and failures, and
acting in the spirit of wisdom, compassion, and loving kindness.
Those are the behaviors of true maturity, and we are still a young
nation - with a young nation's sense of invincibility, immortality,
and infallibility. Or, rather, we were. We cannot afford that
youthful, callous posturing anymore.
While we have given many
wonderful things to the world, we have, in many instances, behaved
quite badly. We have been noble and greedy, generous and
selfish, creative and destructive. The ability to see,
acknowledge, and own our contradictory nature is also a mark of true
maturity - one we must now embrace.
Physics tells us that for every
action there is an equal and opposite reaction. And Tuesday's
destruction was a reaction to something - some string of violence and
injustice for which we are at least partially responsible. Call it
physics, call it karma - we are active participants in this cycle of
violence.
Maturity means honesty. Maturity
means humility. Maturity means apologizing and making amends for our
mistakes. It does not mean capitulation, or surrender, or approval -
let me make that clear. But it means that when we strike back, we do
not use more violence, inflict more pain, cause more suffering. We
strike back with compassion and a willingness to understand where our
responsibility lies.
We will do our best to find those
responsible, and we will do our best to bring them to justice -
because what they did was wrong.
But, we will also be wise
enough to take them as our teachers, and learn what has gone wrong,
because clearly, something has. When too many people live in
unrelenting poverty and neglect and oppression for too long, their
despair leads to desperation. The violence against us was an act of
desperation and we need to be humble enough to find out why and change
the despair to joy.
That is not an easy task. But we
have three of the greatest tools at our disposal: We have faith, and
we have hope, and we have love. And we will use them liberally. We
will wage a mighty peace. Let me say that again. We will wage a
mighty peace. Our world is too small and far too precious to do
otherwise.
There
will be time, soon, to talk about the details of responsibility, but
for now, I leave you for now with this: Help each other. Find all the
love you can in your heart and use it to help each other. Yes, there
is anger and shock and despair. Accept it and treat it with patience
and love. Balance it with honesty and compassion. And do your best.
That's all any of us can ask. Do your best.
Bless
you all.
