Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said:
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of
convenience, but where he stands during challenge and controversy.
Five months ago, on January 29th, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, testifying before the Iraq war inquiry, made the claim that September 11 "changed the calculus of risk."
I vehemently disagree with Tony Blair and all those who have told me, over the years, that "9/11 changed the world." It did not. And it certainly shouldn't have changed us. What we believe. Who we are.
How many time have I heard people excuse their own actions and words by saying, "Well, remember, that was immediately after 9/11; the nation was still in shock."
I don't want to hear it. September 11 didn't change everything. It certainly didn't change me. What it did was expose truths that had been conveniently ignored for years.
And the hijackers who struck the WTC towers are not responsible for the choices Americans made. And they can't be held solely to blame for the horrendous mistakes that were made.
If our values are so easily swayed, manipulated, and exploited, they aren't "values" at all.
"9/11 changed everything." That is a craven excuse. There is only one word that describes fear overriding reason, logic, and principle. You all know the word; I don't need to say it.
And there's another word that describes adherence to principle in the face of fear ... even in the face of death.
I'm reminded of numerous people who have, over the years, made excuses to me for their hurtful (often "hateful") words by saying, "That wasn't really me; I didn't mean those things I said."
Then they get mad at me when I respond with a lukewarm reception to their "apology." But such an apology is essentially meaningless because 1) That really was them and 2) if they didn't mean the things they said, they should not have said them. Refusing to accept responsibility for their words or deeds, excusing them as unintended, is no apology at all.
I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable.
Mel Gibson
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Yeh, right.