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Dear Faceless Terrorist,
Thank you for attacking our country. You have done us a great service.
Thank you
for restoring our economy. Our nation has been teetering on a recession, our financial world unsure of itself and of our future.
While no one can predict what will happen when our stock markets open again - and of course they will reopen, despite the
thousands of lives lost, the untold lost data, and the destruction of computers, networks, and the offices themselves - we
do know that the financial world has rallied around America, and refuses to make good on our loss. Faceless Terrorist, the
day after your brutal attack, our dollar STRENGTHENED, not collapsed like the World Trade Center.
Thank you for reminding
us of our great freedoms. We had become complacent about our ability to travel freely, had let others mind our military, and
forgotten that we are among the very privileged who can openly criticize our own country without fear of retribution. Our
country is so open, we maybe even trained you in war and trained you how to pilot a jet. Is your nameless tribe so great that
it openly embraces those with differing views, and gives them welcome into their midst? Can your group of terrorists teach
theirs how to fly a jet, let alone BUILD one? Our personal freedoms will be sharply curtailed because of your acts, and although
that saddens me, it also reminds us, vividly, of the dangerous world we live in because of people like you.
Thank
you for allowing us to show our bravery. One of your group was interviewed for the TV program 60 minutes lately, and called
us Americans "cowards". Cowards because we would not give our lives up for a cause, or for our country. Cowards because we
had not suffered, and therefore, did not know the sweet taste of true selflessness. Faceless Terrorist, the three men aboard
Flight 93 who wrenched control from your minions and purposely crashed that jet into the low hills of Pennsylvania were not
cowards. They willingly gave their lives for their country, unbidden. Call us cowards now.
Call the 250 dead firefighters
trapped in the WTC cowards. Call the thousands of doctors and nurses and emergency workers who have flocked to New York to
help, to crawl over falling debris, walking under 'widow-makers' to find one more survivor, cowards. This is truly the Home
of the BRAVE, Faceless Terrorist, in ways you have only begun to understand.
Thank you for restoring our patriotism.
Caught up in bickering and us-vs.-them, our government and our society has been bogged down in finger-pointing and ideological
debates, Bulls vs. Bears, Donkeys vs. Elephants, Hawks vs. Doves.
Thank you, Faceless Terrorist, for stirring our
hearts, for calling our minds to remember why we live in America, despite our differences. I raised my FLAG today, proudly,
as did many of my neighbors. Where is your flag, Faceless Terrorist? Where is your patriotism?
Thank you for bringing
us unity. We are standing shoulder to shoulder, ready to protect our children, our families, and our neighbors. Our voices
are clear and strong, we are UNITED. Who supports you, Faceless Terrorist? No one, you live among the fringe, hiding behind
the skirts of others to protect yourself. The Taliban has renounced you, no one wants to admit they are harboring you. No
one in this world stands behind you, or with you, other than your own group of terrorists. You are outcasts in this world,
and that will be your great undoing. You underestimate the power of alliance among the world's free peoples.
Thank
you for making us seek out and face our own intolerances. In a country whose population reflects nearly the entire spectrum
of the world, we do not always treat our neighbors as we would have ourselves treated.
Thank you for reminding us
how important it is now to reach out and LOVE our Arab neighbors, our Afghan neighbors, our Pakistani neighbors, all of our
neighbors, regardless of race, creed, color, or ideology. For our neighbors are not you, Faceless Terrorist, they have come
to our country to seek out the same freedoms as the original founders of this great country some 350 years ago, and we embrace
them gladly.
Thank you for reminding us of our humanity. While others in the world may be focusing on the thousands
lost, the bodies falling from buildings, the twisted metal, the image of the jet slicing through the building, we here in
the United States are haunted by the final words of those who knew they were about to die. "I just called to tell you I love
you, Mom." "I love you, honey." "Kiss the boys for me." "I love you more than you will ever know." Final words from those
caught in this tragedy before leaving this world.
We are fragile. We are VULNERABLE. That's what makes us human. Thank
you, Faceless Terrorist, for reminding us to reach out today, to say 'I love you' today, to embrace life today. We may not
have tomorrow.
Thank you for giving us hope in a very dark hour. While we are shaken, we will not give up. Your brutality
has galvanized us as nothing else has for over 50 years. It gives us RESOLVE to go on, rebuild, renew, trust again, reach
out again. That great indomitable American Spirit may be bruised, but it is not dead, not even injured. We built this country
on faith - in ourselves, in each other, in whatever God we choose to pray to - and we will rebuild any part you tear asunder.
Over and over and over again.
You cannot win this war. You cannot conquer the spirit of this country, or of its people.
We wish your soul peace, but fear you will not find it. You will never win, Faceless Terrorist. But thank you for reminding
us why we are here. Of who we are.
Author unknown
Lest we NEVER forget 9/11/2001!
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