Tony Petersen
Dalton Runberg / The Collegian

It is really hard to write about 9/11.

I was all ready to write about the mistakes our government has made in the foreign policy arena. About how President Bush’s outlook changed after that day. About where we could go from here, what foreign policy changes we could make right that have been wrong for so long.

But this is not the time for ruminations of the sort.

Because 10 years ago yesterday, nearly 3,000 Americans ”” innocent Americans ”” lost their lives in a brazen attack by a terrorist organization headed by an evil man.

I don’t want to talk about all the mistakes our country has made in the last decade. Yes, we have made mistakes. But, for the most part, our response has shown that we, as a nation, will endure.

We have remained a light of freedom ”” an empire of liberty, as Thomas Jefferson said ”” to the whole world, despite the horrible tragedy.

Even after a few Muslim radicals attacked us, we did not blame all Muslim peoples for the attack, nor did we round them up and put them into internment camps. Though this may seem like common sense, here we acted more honorably than most nations would act, and more honorably than our predecessors did when they, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, put Americans of Japanese descent into internment camps.

Though we have lost a little bit of our privacy, we still have the freedom to criticize governmental actions regarding the War on Terror, even to promulgate theories of how it was actually the United States government that attacked us.

And though we have been involved in two wars, we have resisted the urge to reinstate the draft, allowing Americans citizens the choice of whether or not they want to face war.

There is still much to be proud of in this nation.

Yesterday, the members of my church held their outstretched hands out toward the American flag on our wall, praying fervently for God to guide our nation. Our pastor prayed for the United States out of Deuteronomy 11: “Rather, the land you will soon take over is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain ”” a land that the Lord your God cares for. He watches over it through each season of the year!”

Whether or not you believe in God, these verses should give you hope. America will be all right.

America will make it because its people are strong and resilient. Because we don’t give up when times are tough. Because we persevere.

We are a shining city upon a hill. We will weather the attacks of the enemy and we will come out stronger.

This is the message of 9/11. In the last ten years, we have made many mistakes. We have fallen short of our ideals many times. But at least we have these ideals.

Remember the dead, but, as Abraham Lincoln said so memorably in the Gettysburg Address, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. In order to prove ourselves worthy of those who gave their lives on that clear, sunny day, we must continue to strive for our ideals.

May God bless America.