There will be no shortage of television specials, newspaper editorials and conversations around hallowed grounds this weekend asking the question: “Where were you?”
The shared sorrow of national tragedy has a way of unifying, as it did after that fateful day in September 2001: we remember the innocent men, women and children who did not deserve such a premature fate; we remember the heroes who ran into unbelievable danger to help people they didn’t even know; we remember the heroes who were never able to run back out.
And while it may be pertinent to look back on where we were, it is equally important to look forward to where we are going.
What is terrorism? The Department of Defense defines it as “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence
to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or
societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political,
religious, or ideological.”
Notice what terrorism is not: it is not a commitment to a full-scale land war or a regular dominion-seeking offensive; rather, it is intended to emotionally affect the intended audience into submission. Terrorism is–primarily–a weapon against the human mind.
Our men and women in uniform have fought valliantly in places like Fallujah and Khost. Their heroic deeds have freed oppressed peoples in Iraq and Afghanistan, regardless of our government’s stated reasons for invasion.
Yet what sets apart this generation’s battles is not the ferocity of weapons used–it is the scope of those who must commit to victory. As the definition suggests, the only way to truly defeat terrorists is to eliminate the fear that stems from their actions. There can be no half measures–every citizen, whether soldier, sailor, hair dresser or CEO has an equal stake in this new century and its commitments. There can be no free riders in our free society, whether they stem from social programs or the social requisites of defense.
In the days following 9/11, President George W. Bush reminded us of Psalm 23: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.”
If we allow fear to seep into our daily lives, terrorists don’t need a weapon on our shores–they live in our bedrooms, on our televisions and on our drives to work. In this way, government action will not be responsible for President Bush’s vision of “a world free from terror”–that victory will only be won person-by-person, family-by-family, community-by-community.
Victory against terror isn’t national–it’s personal.
As we remember a September morning ten years ago, let us picture what our Septembers will look like ten years hence–and let us each make that a reality, every day.
(Cross-posted from The Journeying Progressive)
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