Wed, Sep 12, 2001 07:37PM -0600

So this is when we can find out what America is really all about.

I haven't wanted to write at all. It's just too much, too many things at once. I haven't even absorbed the initial images. It's just too horrific. My mind reels.

But I knew from the start that yesterday was only the beginning. Great, grievous things are afoot. The history of our nation hangs in balance. Yes, we must fight, but I hope we fight for the right things.

Deep down inside, despite my veneer of cynicism and distrust in authority and the mainstream, I believe in America. Not the proud, swaggering global giant that marches around the world touting Capitalism and Free Markets whether you like it or not, backed by an arsenal that can destroy the world a thousand times over. No. What I believe in is hope, of life, freedom, and justice for everyone. The things this republic is supposed to stand for. The things that our forebears sacrificed to attain by coming to this country, and sacrificed to defend when they fought in times of war.

And if instead, we seek vengeance instead of justice, and sacrifice these hard-earned freedoms for the sake of security, then we will have surrendered the war against terror unconditionally. I would even go as far as to say that we would become accomplices to the heinous crimes committed yesterday.

It's true. Freedom and Peace were attacked yesterday. And only Freedom and Peace can save us.