Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I so enjoy listening to my colleagues as they talk about the issues that are important to them and to the States they represent. It is, indeed, one of those privileges that we in this body enjoy, and many times we take it for granted. Yet today is a day of remembrance. It is a day that we look back and say we ought not take it for granted because there are many in this world who would threaten our freedoms and our liberties.

Earlier this week, I was talking with some of the members of our team, and we were trading stories about where we were on the morning of September 11 and how it affected the way we viewed their place in the world, and their memories, and what their recollections were. Those of us who vividly remember that day still recall an unsettling cascade of emotions. There was shock, confusion, and, finally, dread as we realized we were not, as initially thought, seeing a senseless accident, but that, indeed, we were under attack. As the morning wore on, dread really gave way to fear and panic and, finally, to absolute terror that our loved ones who were in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania and who were in the air, maybe flying home, were among those who were experiencing firsthand what was happening. It was the perfect storm of conflicting media reports and jammed cell service that made it almost impossible to reach out to people and to ask that question, ``Are you OK?'' and to hear their voices.

Through the smoke and the blood came a moment of awful clarity. Life would never be the same because we would never again experience life without feeling as if we were a target. The events of September 11 introduced a new generation of Americans to the reality that our country is not and will never be immune to the threat of terror.

Those who were teetering on the edge of adulthood may not have immediately made the connection between global politics and the disaster that was playing out on TV in real time. Yet, by the time terrorists struck that second tower, I think a lot of people really had begun to understand what was happening. Later, they learned that a half a world away, a group of men who referred to themselves as al-Qaida had made it their life's mission to murder Americans. They were doing it to prove a point. Yes, it did leave a mark on this Nation and on our citizens. Younger Americans' memories of that day really are fuzzier, but almost without exception, my staff members remember what they now describe as a sense of national unity rising up in the days following the attacks.

They remember that every house on the street flew an American flag and that every adult they knew stood in a line to give blood. They saw small town first responders load up those firetrucks and emergency vehicles and head to New York.

At the time, they really didn't understand geopolitics, but they did understand fear and suffering because they saw that fear in the eyes of their teachers and in the eyes of the adults who surrounded them; but they also saw the shift that the attacks and the aftermath caused in our country. For a time, partisanship and bitterness was washed away. What you saw was unity, and waving flags.

Now, almost 20 years later, memories are growing fuzzy. Sometimes they are nonexistent. Calls for unity have been replaced by heated debate. Too often, the loudest voices look back at 9/11 as an event in the collective memory, and they don't look at it as an occurrence that changed lives and lifestyles forever.

They consider in passing the remnants of the attacks in debates over foreign policy and defense spending, but ignore why we remain so focused on national security. This is why every year, without exception, we remind ourselves that the kind of hatred it takes to bring an entire country to its knees gives no quarter.

We acknowledge the actions of 19 terrorists whose twisted beliefs led to the violent murder of nearly 3,000 innocent people because even though the panic of that awful morning has faded, our enemies' desire to make an example of us has not. But America, with all her imperfections, still thrives in utter defiance of hatred, divisiveness, and destruction.

Today, we remember those who died, and we keep their memory as a beacon against the void that allowed violence and terror.

We remember the heroes who defied fear and reason and ran toward the flames, putting love of country and countrymen above all else.

And we remember and remind ourselves that by simply standing back up, America made herself the world's best example of what it looks like when love, hope, and valor triumph over the forces of darkness.

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