posted on September 18, 2001 09:02:40 AM new
I found the words of a letter sent to Senator Biden very comforting. Perhaps you will find some comfort in them, too.
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Oprah: When we spoke the other day, Senator Biden, we talked about sending a message of hope to the American people. We have seen in the streets of New York and Washington D.C. displays of enormous strength and courage and unity. I know I believe what this is going to do is make our country stronger and more unified than ever.
Sen. Biden: Can I read something to you? (Reads excerpt of a letter written by the son of Senator Biden's friend, the President of the University of Delaware.)
"The press has provided around-the-clock coverage of this event. We've repeatedly been told that our country will never be the same, and that on Tuesday we lost our innocence. Unfortunately, we have heard that refrain several times before, and it's nonsensical due to sheer repetition. After all, we supposedly have long since lost our innocence in Vietnam, JFK, Watergate, Beirut, Oklahoma City and countless other frenzies. The flaw in all these dire predictions, past and present, is the concept that America is a nation of glassy-eyed innocents in the first place. The United States of America is unique in the history of humankind, and its survival has been guaranteed not by its innocence, but by its character and its resilience.
Unlike most nations, ours was not created from geography, religion, language or any other factor of convenience. Ours is a diverse nation of seekers who left lands and overcame adversity in America. They risked everything for the opportunity to create a better life. Far from being innocent, our nation is a nation of people who are largely descended from oppression and hardship. These individuals, through sheer will and effort, became part of this country, this different and special place, and started over. The democracy and freedoms we have today were not stumbled into through innocence and luck. Indeed, they were built through experience and a deep and wiry understanding of human nature and its capacity to do evil.
We were shocked on Tuesday by Tuesday's act, but not surprised, for we had seen and fought evil on a worldwide scale before, throughout our existence as a nation. And we have fought evil, we have preserved our constitutional rights, our values and everything that is so important in America. We have preserved our values, we have won these battles in the past, and we will win this battle again."
He is absolutely, dead positively right. They do not have the capacity to take this nation down. They do not have the capacity. The President is doing the right thing, and he should keep his eye on the ball here. He has put together a coalition that includes everyone from Russia to China to the United Nations to Pakistan to the Middle Eastern Arab Nations. As I said, they understand, they're not able to play geopolitics anymore.
Oprah: They understand it could have been them.
Sen. Biden: Exactly.
From the show America Under Attack: Where Do We Stand Now?
