Five short years ago, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center. That morning our collective national stupor perished in that towering inferno which claimed so many of our countrymen. Into the void where our illusions used to be came a new feeling: fear. Fear consumes all. It replaces rationality with brashness. Our fear in the days and weeks after September 11th knew no logic. I told Americans that we were in a struggle for survival. I was wrong. There will be other attacks; many more innocents will loose their lives. But even the worst attacks that any group can perpetrate could make even a dent in the strength of the single most powerful society in the history of the world. Only Americans truly posses the power to destroy this new colossus. Our republic shall prevail so long as we ourselves do not relinquish our liberties in the face of terror. The greatest leaders of this nation were never Caesars or Bonapartes. Our great spring from the tradition of Cincinnatus, reluctant in starting war, fierce in fighting it, and rejoicing in peace. Five years after the collapse of our myth of invulnerability, it is time to once again make a choice. Shall we conquer our terror? Or will we allow terror to conquer us?
