Charles Skelton: “Yesterday, people touched with evil brought hate and darkness to a land of light and freedom. I need not recount the…”

“Yesterday, people touched with evil brought hate and darkness to a land of light and freedom. I need not recount the details of their crimes. Those will forever be too familiar. I saw some of the damage firsthand at the Pentagon last night. The lives that they took, structures that they damaged were not the true target. Here is what they attacked: the idealist Nation that guaranties all of its people equality in law and enforces it in deed; the determined Nation that time and again deploys its finest men and women to restore peace where it does not exist and maintain peace where it does; the generous Nation that gives more selfless support to other countries than any other in history; the steadfast Nation that is the first one called when disaster strikes, when tragedy erupts, when fortune's heart turns cold. That is what they attacked. They killed many Americans; but they did not kill, they could not kill our idealism, our determination, our generosity, our steadfastness. They could not kill what makes America America. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, the commander of the Japanese forces, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, mused, "I fear we have roused a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve." Those who assisted in perpetrating this deed should take those words to heart, because resolve, too, is in our national character, as Admiral Yamamoto learned to his eternal regret. We do not go weeping through the streets. We do not wail and beat our breasts.…”