USA Today: September 12, 2001

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By request...the editorial for September 12, 2001. I must say that I received hate calls and letters for writing this. Not exactly sure why...

Don't Immediately Return Hatred

Before we think about retalliation and counting the bodies we need to think about life, love and those closest to us. In the numbing aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, we need to appreciate what's important:

Our love for one another.

We hate the people who did this and we want to torture them for what they've done. Hatred resulted in these very atatcks.

When does the circle of violence stop? We react. Terrorists respond to our attacks, and we react again.

Rather than hatred, Americans need to see this as an opportunity for change. We need a new direction.

Years from now we'll remember where we were when this occurred. How many people immediately thought of their loved ones? How many people turned to prayer for those who were hurt? Did we feel the pain of the person standing next to us, or did our hearts fill with hatred and thoughts of revenge?

Yes.

We have to react.

We need to find the answer as to how this could happen, but the fact that it happened shouldn't surprise us.

We live in a time and place where violence is celebrated, anticipated and expected. We revel in a death penalty that is applied discriminatively, and we toss threats around as if they were a ball.

Before we draw the lines in the sand and internalize the horror, we need to find the love in our hearts.

For our own good.

As a nation, let's say a prayer.

Let's bond together.

Let's get through this with as little hatred as we can.

As I've said, we got a lot of calls to our home. One man contacted my beautiful wife and said, "Your husband is an asshole."

I was stunned by such a reaction. I wasn't saying that we need to hold hands from here to Afghanistan and back. I was simply saying we needed to at least consider who and what we love.

Anyway.

A retired Colonel contacted me late in the day on September 12, 2001. I was ready for him to yell at me about my "peace-loving" stance. I'd grown weary.

"You're right, son," he said. "You're one hundred percent right."

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