No one can deny that this was a rough month for Americans. Bombings, explosions, political firestorms, injustices perpetrated on innocent people who happened to fall victim to the relentless drumbeat of social media, all of this reminds us that our society is far from perfect.
But months like this can also give us an opportunity to evaluate where we are and whether we are where we want to be. As a society, we can survive bombings and industrial accidents far better than we can survive hatred and prejudice. 9/11 taught us that our enemy can use the openness and freedom of our society against us. But if we let that lesson sink so deeply that we begin to fear those who are different from us, just because they are different from us, then the damage those terrorists sought to inflict will become a reality.
I, for one, do not want any terrorist, whether in New York in 2001 or in Boston in 2013, to achieve his goal. I don't want to give our enemies the satisfaction of seeing America compromise its greatest living principle - liberty - for the sake of achieving what is surely only a fleeting perception of safety in a very dangerous world.
Yes, those who perpetrated the Boston Marathon bombings honored Islam, but that does not mean that Islam honors them. Yes, they claim Chechnya as their homeland, but that does not mean that Chechnya claims them. Let us never expand malice and hatred beyond those who actually engage in it, for in doing so, we end up becoming the very thing those who hate us want us to be - less of what we stand for, more of what we stand against.
It's been a rough month, but we will rise above it, as we always have as a nation and a freedom-loving people. God bless America.
But months like this can also give us an opportunity to evaluate where we are and whether we are where we want to be. As a society, we can survive bombings and industrial accidents far better than we can survive hatred and prejudice. 9/11 taught us that our enemy can use the openness and freedom of our society against us. But if we let that lesson sink so deeply that we begin to fear those who are different from us, just because they are different from us, then the damage those terrorists sought to inflict will become a reality.
I, for one, do not want any terrorist, whether in New York in 2001 or in Boston in 2013, to achieve his goal. I don't want to give our enemies the satisfaction of seeing America compromise its greatest living principle - liberty - for the sake of achieving what is surely only a fleeting perception of safety in a very dangerous world.
Yes, those who perpetrated the Boston Marathon bombings honored Islam, but that does not mean that Islam honors them. Yes, they claim Chechnya as their homeland, but that does not mean that Chechnya claims them. Let us never expand malice and hatred beyond those who actually engage in it, for in doing so, we end up becoming the very thing those who hate us want us to be - less of what we stand for, more of what we stand against.
It's been a rough month, but we will rise above it, as we always have as a nation and a freedom-loving people. God bless America.