Haley Stevens: “there are moments in every lifetime which defy words. For me, those moments are the attack on Pearl Harbor, the day…”

“there are moments in every lifetime which defy words. For me, those moments are the attack on Pearl Harbor, the day President Kennedy was assassinated, the Good Friday earthquake in Alaska, my own airplane crash in 1978, and the day I viewed the Exxon Valdez oilspill. My most recent and most vivid memory is the helicopter trip I took over Ground Zero with my good friend, Senator Inouye, on September 13, 2001. The total impact of what Senator Inouye and I saw just shocked the two of us. We both went through World War II and saw a lot of trauma, a lot of destruction. But nothing was more stark in terms of our memories, particularly mine, than what I saw that day in New York. Embedded in my mind then were the questions: Who would do something like this? And why? We would soon learn the answers, and those answers changed our Nation forever. September 11, 2001, was one of our country's darkest days, but the worst in our enemies brought out the best in our citizens. Their efforts reflected the words of the author Henry James: We work in the dark, we do what we can, we give what we have. Following those attacks, Americans did everything they could to help those directly affected. Those of us in Congress almost immediately made $40 billion available to initiate recovery. Since then, our country has been fortunate. We have met the terrorists abroad rather than here on our soil, and we have accomplished this in a way consistent with our ideals.…”