It's All Our Fault
Saint Paul held a 9/11 observance yesterday.
Here are Mayor Chris Coleman's remarks, as prepared for delivery:
Five years ago, on the evening of September 11th, I thought back to Robert Kennedy's comments following the death of Martin Luther King and his quotation from Aeschylus:
"In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."
I wondered then what the events of that day would teach us and what path our country would follow in response to the great tragedy.
In the months and years that followed, with the unforgettable pain lodged in our hearts, I had hope that this horror would have caused the opposite of what the terrorists sought.
I hoped that instead of diminishing this great nation, it would strengthen us and help us form new allies where previously there had been
enemies.
In the five years since the tragic events of September 11th, what wisdom has the awful grace taught us?
At times, I fear that we are no wiser than before the attacks.
Well, some of us certainly aren't.
We'll come back to that.
I hear politicians use the events to justify everything from shopping to military build-up.
I hear them tell us that we were attacked because the terrorists hate our freedom - as if this simplicity of thought can prevent another attack.
I don't believe I've ever heard it portrayed as a cause-effect relationship. But again, more later...:
I hear many quotes from Hebrew and Christian scriptures, but too few acknowledgments that God calls us to seek peace and Christ taught us to love our enemy.
In Romans, we our taught: "Be not overcome with evil, but overcome
evil with good."
In honor of over 3000 innocent lives, let us overcome the evil of those
who sought to destroy us with good.
Let us seek new friendships and understanding with people of every nation.
Let us turn our swords into plowshares and sow the seeds of peace across the globe.
Let us seek to prevent another tragedy not simply through military strength but through strength of character.
Let us show our enemies that the true greatness of this nation is our love for one another.
When we choose this path, the awful grace of September 11th will truly have made us wise.
The fact that we "love one another" enough to have built a democracy in which Germans and French, Poles and Jews, Christians and Moslems not only co-exist but maintain a civil democracy
is both a sign of our wisdom - greater in its way than that of any other nation on earth -
and the part about us that the attackers (who remain unnamed throughout the speech)
do in fact hate.
But the overarching message from Mayor Chris Coleman is this: It's our fault.
Don't blame me. I didn't vote for this hamster.
Posted by Mitch at
September 12, 2006 07:07 AM
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Hey now, don't belittle hamsters by comparing them to Chris Coleman!
Posted by: Jay Reding at September 12, 2006 12:41 PM"Let us turn our swords into plowshares and sow the seeds of peace across the globe."
And while we're turning ours into plowshares, they are sharpening theirs, all the better to cut thru flesh and spine.
"Let us seek to prevent another tragedy not simply through military strength but through strength of character."
Hard to use character against an enemy who has none.
"Let us show our enemies that the true greatness of this nation is our love for one another."
And while we're at our 2006 love-in, they'll still stand up to their scriptural diktats and either convert or kill us. We'll just make it easier for them, no?
Lefties have an amazingly twisted grasp of good vs. evil.
Either that was a 60 year old speechwriter who wrote that for him, or his Dad did a darn good job of raising him in his image. I could almost smell the patchouli and hear the strains of Joan Baez and Janis Joplin wafting thru the background.
Posted by: Bill C at September 12, 2006 12:54 PMWhat about the poem? Weren't we promised a poem by the new Poet lady? The last one was so good, I can't WAIT for this one.
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Posted by: nathan bissonette at September 12, 2006 01:00 PM"When we choose this path, the awful grace of September 11th will truly have made us wise."
What utter nonsense. And I don't say that because I disagree with Coleman's words -- though I do -- I say it because it's nonsense. What kind of grace is "awful grace"? Is this what people of faith seek? Is the purpose of grace to teach us a lesson?
Posted by: Terry at September 12, 2006 01:27 PMSince Chrissy opened with a quote from Bobby Kennedy, let me (as a public service) give him another RFK quote:
"Nobody hates like a liberal."
Feel free to use that one, Chris.
Posted by: Jack Bauer at September 12, 2006 01:30 PMThe Mayor's office announced he'd speak, the St Paul Chamber Orchestra would play, and also promised the Poet Laureate would speak.
I searched the St. Paul city website. Coleman's speech is there, nothing about Connolly.
The PiPress on-line had his remarks, nothing about Connolly.
The SPCO site has nothing about Connolly.
I called the Mayor's office and left a message for his Director of Communications asking for a copy of the speech. No reply so far.
It's weird - it's so hard to find her remarks that it's as if they don't want anybody to know what she said. I wonder why not?
.
Posted by: nathan bissonette at September 12, 2006 02:48 PMI wonder what the DFL Secularists have to say about this TRIPE? Where are all the "don't shove
Posted by: jimj at September 12, 2006 04:04 PMreligion DOWN MY THROAT!" types that the Left-Wingers trot out whenever a GOP politician references religion ? OH!...I Forgot!...Chris Coleman is a DFL HACK so it's O.K to do THAT !!
I wonder what the DFL Secularists have to say about this TRIPE? Where are all the "don't shove
Posted by: jimj at September 12, 2006 04:04 PMreligion DOWN MY THROAT!" types that the Left-Wingers trot out whenever a GOP politician references religion ? OH!...I Forgot!...Chris Coleman is a DFL HACK so it's O.K to do THAT !!
"What kind of grace is "awful grace"? Is this what people of faith seek? Is the purpose of grace to teach us a lesson?"
Thank you Terry for that moment of pure clarity.
Awful Grace is what happens to self-loathing people who blame everyone but themselves for all the percieved ills of the world. Like Chris and his brother.
Posted by: Kermit at September 12, 2006 07:27 PMPeople of true faith will always see Grace as "Amazing" often "Awesome" and always "Accessable" to all.
I too have to deride Mitch's comparison to a hamster. Hamsters are vertebrates, after all.
Mitch et al.,
I'd hate to have seen your reaction to Coleman quoting Nietzsche.
Posted by: phipho at September 12, 2006 10:01 PManal eating goth anal
Posted by: Pbyuhvqe at October 10, 2006 01:26 AM