Today the nation remembers a profound attack on our people. It was the attack such as a playground bully would make, with braggadocio and feelings of moral superiority... followed by cowardice when it came time to take responsibility.
Memorials recount the names of all who died in these attacks. We all recognize that the simple American ideals of freedom, liberty, justice, hope, and opportunity were the true targets. May this country, and any individual in the world, never for a moment think these ideas come cheaply or are maintained with no cost. For the forces of the world are ever against them... hatred, strife, fear, emnity; these things threaten the ideals of American life.
It is not such a hard step to move from "I don't understand you therefore I hate you," to "I hate you therefore you should hurt," to "I hate you therefore you should die." Hatred can even take the voice of love. "I love you, I know what is best for you," can be heard even as mental and physical blows resound.
There is an enemy within that assaults the American ideals of liberty and freedom every day. Some of us live with that enemy; we all walk past it each day. This enemy expresses itself rarely in public. You see, you know, you ignore... the tightening of a hand around an arm. A pair of sunglasses not removed in the store. A look. A cringe. The slightest sneer in a smile. A put-down. We have lived with this enemy; we have allowed it to erode our foundations of freedom. It bears our face, and scars our hearts all the more for it. This enemy takes away the freedom of those it claims to hold most dear. It justifies this action based on the "need" of those it enslaves.
Abuse.
Millions of Americans experience a war on their freedom, their independence, their very identities. They lose their minds and the function of their bodies; as casualties in any war. Abuse destroys the American nation as surely as bombs from without. It is the rot within the house structure that must be taken care of, or it will destroy the whole building. And we must not forget. We must not forget the victims. The child who can no longer trust adults because of the unspeakable action of his uncle on his body. The young woman who attacks men because her father beat her mother. The man who dares not hold his head up at work for his wife, the last person any would expect, extorts total obedience through threat and manipulation. The wife who drops out of social engagements because the bruises become impossible to hide.
Each time we turn our heads from a victim such as these; each time we hold our tongues and are silent, we aid the enemy within. We are complicit in his destruction of our freedom. We are simultaneously the victims and the weapons of destruction. We are the hostages on the planes.
Do not ever forget September 11, 2001. But remember the victims of hatred of freedom go far beyond, and our enemies no borders.
KLC
September 11, 2002
