“We took a painful blow, and emerged stronger"
At ground zero, Obama read Psalm 46 and Bush read a letter written by Abraham Lincoln. AP Photo
By JENNIFER EPSTEIN | 9/11/11 9:57 AM EDT Updated: 9/11/11 9:28 PM EDT
President Barack Obama marked the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by visiting memorials to the victims in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia and promising that future generations would make their own visits, knowing “that nothing can break the will of a truly United States of America.”
“They will remember that we have overcome slavery and Civil War; we’ve overcome bread lines and fascism and recession and riots; communism and, yes, terrorism,” Obama said Sunday night at a “Concert for Hope” at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
“It will be said of us,” he added, ” that we kept that faith; that we took a painful blow, and emerged stronger.”
The Kennedy Center event brought to a close a day of mourning and remembrance that that began in New York, under a sky nearly as clear as the one that filled with flames, smoke and ash the morning of 9/11. At the site of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, tens of thousands of people gathered at a newly-completed memorial to remember those who died in the terrorist attacks that day and reflect on the tumultuous decade that followed.
And in Shanksville, Pa., and at the Pentagon, families, friends and others also came together, as did Americans across the country and around the world.
The concert — which led off with country singer Alan Jackson performing his 9/11-inspired “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?” — had been set to take place at Washington’s National Catedral, but was moved this week after the collapse of a crane working to repair damage from the earthquake that rattled the northeast last month. Obama spoke from a podium adorned with the stone angel that fell off the church in the earthquake.
Since the attacks, “much has changed for Americans,” Obama said Sunday night from a stage that displayed images of the cathedral’s stained glass windows on large screens. “We’ve known war and recession; passionate debates and political divides. We can never get back the lives that were lost on that day, or the Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice in the wars that followed.”
“And yet today, it is worth remembering what has not changed,” he said. “Our character as a nation has not changed. Our faith — in God and each other — that has not changed. Our belief in America, born of a timeless ideal that men and women should govern themselves; that all people are created equal, and deserve the same freedom to determine their own destiny — that belief, through test and trials, has only been strengthened.”
The past ten years “have shown that we hold fast to our freedoms,” have “underscore[d] the bonds between all Americans” and “tell a story of resilience,” he said.
Obama began the day by joining his predecessor, former President George W. Bush, in paying tribute to the 2,753 people who died at the World Trade Center when two hijacked planes were flown into it.
Counting the casualties from a third plane that crashed into the Pentagon and
a fourth plane crashed by hijackers into a field in Shanksville, Pa., 2,977 people died on 9/11.
It was the first time Obama and Bush have appeared together at Ground Zero, site of the most deadly of the attacks that defined Bush’s presidency while greatly shaping Obama’s - and it was their first meeting since January, 2010.
At 8:46 a.m., the precise time the first plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center, bells tolled and the crowd paused in silence. Obama then read Psalm 46 — “the Lord of hosts is with us” — before family members of those who died took the stage in pairs to read the names of the departed.
The scripture Obama chose to read was “particularly appropriate” because it talks about persevering through hardships and emerging stronger, deputy White House press secretary Josh Earnest said afterwards during a briefing aboard Air Force One.
At 9:03, there was more silence, marking the moment when a plane hit the South Tower. Bush read a letter that Abraham Lincoln wrote in 1864 to Lydia Bixby, a woman who lost her five sons in the Civil War.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, his predecessor Rudy Giuliani and Govs. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) and Chris Christie (R-N.J.) all spoke at the ceremony, as did the family members of several people who died in the attacks.
Paul Simon, James Taylor and Yo-Yo Ma were among the performers.
Before the ceremony, Obama, Bush and their wives ran their hands over the names of the dead etched on bronze panels that are part of the memorial that has been built where the World Trade Center once stood. For the first time, tens of thousands of gallons of water flowed into the memorial, two reflecting pools built in the footprints of the towers.
Family and friends of the dead streamed in to place flowers and small American flags at the names of those who were lost. Some traced their loved ones’ names on sheets of white paper, stark against the dark surface.
The president and former president then stood silently as New York first responders unfurled an American flag damaged in the attacks. A youth chorus sang “The Star Spangled Banner.” The flag was folded as bagpipers played. Former First Lady Laura Bush appeared the most affected, wiping her nose and eyes with tissues throughout the her visit to the World Trade Center site.
By noon Obama was in Shanksville, where he and First Lady Michelle Obama laid a wreath at the memorial wall there, and as they walked to greet family members and dignitaries at the site, the crowd chanted “U.S.A, U.S.A., U.S.A.”
After returning to Washington, the Obamas visited the Pentagon, where the president laid a white wreath and a military band played “Amazing Grace.”
Family, friends and members of the military had gathered earlier at the Pentagon, standing in silence at 9:37 a.m.to mark the moment American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the western side of the building, killing all 59 passengers and crew on board as well as 125 civilians and members of the armed forces.
Just after 10 a.m., Vice President Joe Biden spoke briefly, paying tribute to those who died in the attacks and the troops who were killed and injured in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When the United States is attacked, “it only emboldens us to stand up and strike back,” he said.
Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden could never have imagined “the sleeping giant they were about to waken,” Biden said, as U.S. military and covert forces began their global war on terror. In the decade since, bin Laden has been killed and Al Qaeda’s power has been significantly diminished.
In his public comments leading up to Sunday’s anniversary, Obama had stressed the need to restore the national unity that surged in the days and weeks after the attacks, calling on Americans to remember that experience and learn from it.
“Ten years later, I’d say America came through this thing in a way that was consistent with our character,” Obama said in an interview with NBC News that aired Sunday. “We’ve made mistakes. Some things haven’t happened as quickly as they needed to. But overall, we took the fight to Al Qaeda, we preserved our values, we preserved our character.”
“The truth of the matter is that there have been some changes since 9/11. Some innocence, perhaps, has been lost,” he said. “But our core values — our core character, how we interact with each other, our love of this country, and our ability to work through difficult issues in a way that’s peaceful and democratic — those things haven’t changed.”
Bush, who declined Obama’s invitation to join him at Ground Zero in May when he met with the families of 9/11 victims after the killing of Bin Laden, laid a wreath at the Pentagon on Saturday and participated in the memorial dedication later in the day in Shanksville. Former President Bill Clinton, Biden, and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) were also on hand.
Obama, meanwhile, visited Arlington National Ceremony on Saturday and spent a few hours with his family volunteering at a Washington soup kitchen.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63184.html#ixzz1Xhh7ZHNj
____________
What do you think ?
Các anh chị nghĩ thế nào, có ý kiến, phê bình gì qua bài viết "“We took a painful blow, and emerged stronger"" ?
Để có thêm ý kiến mới cho các anh chị thảo luận, xin mời các anh chị đọc thêm bài viết "Donald Rumsfeld: Don't weaken our defenses"
Rumsfeld says cuts to the defense budget would leave the U.S. unable to deal with crises. | Reuters
Donald Rumsfeld: Don't weaken our defenses
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog"
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
12092011
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
No comments:
Post a Comment