Tonight, we gathered in a square to remember the loss of 2,998 innocent civilians on 9/11. We stood to commemorate their lives and deaths. We fight to continue their legacy.
On that day thirteen years ago, the free world was painfully reminded that democracy is not the default. Free republics are but islands in an historical sea of tyranny.
On that day, untempered idealism was mingled with sober realism. Blood must always be the price paid to sustain freedom. Yet it is a price that Americans, by the millons, have been willing to pay.
On that day, the most entitled generation in this nation's history was taught responsibility. Their illusions of security without sacrifice crashed down like tumbling towers--they fell from the sky and plowed into the earth like an eagle clipped of its wings in mid-flight.
On that day, America rediscovered itself. It is not a nation of slaves or greed or hubris. It is a nation of free peoples, gathered from all ends of the globe, united in the imperfect pursuit of ideals. These ideals at various times have gone unrealized, but they have never gone unpursued and they remain unconquered.
On this day, a "pastor" who stands outside the confessional contours of orthodox Christianity will use fire to be politically incendiary. His actions are morally repugant, though fully legal.
On this day, a shadow of uncertainty will descend for a time over all those fighting for freedom, anticipating the bloody and violent response to one man's free, incendiary act.
On this day, I am glad that this man is still free. Other cultures will brutally punish the man with the warped conscience. Our culture defends the conscience of every man, recognizing that the conscience is the fount and foundation of freedom and virtue.
On this day, I cannot offer any moral justification for this man, but I can offer my pledge to defend his freedom. Only those left free to cry "Let's roll" will be willing to fight for freedom on the day of its challenging.
