A time to mourn

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The nation continues to mourn the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist assaults on our fellow citizens, their families and friends. We continue to mourn because this is the nature of our caring and a sign that we must remove the shock to receive the reality.

One can only speculate as to the long-term effects of this disaster, which may well include large-scale military retribution and a slowdown of our domestic economy, even worldwide commerce. We will take all of it in our stride, face it and conquer it.

The attacks on New York and Washington made everything we were doing at the time -- driving to work, cleaning our home, doing laundry, opening the day's mail, waiting in a doctor's office -- seem instantly insignificant, perhaps even inappropriate. The sudden, unexpected loss of thousands of our fellow citizens has that kind of an effect.

And so, days after that mind-shearing event, with immeasurable sorrow still heavy on the hearts of families and loved ones, with entire cities still in mourning, we seek to make our peace with reality, unconsciously aware that this is the only logical, sensible path back to normalcy. We have shared our grief, because so great a tragedy cannot be borne without being shared.

Whatever we believe about the hereafter, this much we know: Our most precious gift is life.

And whatever else we believe, death, like life, is a mystery beyond our comprehension. A mystery deepened when those taken from us are, like the men and women we now remember, so full of promise, so loved.

Perhaps it is better not to pretend that it can be explained, because that only increases the torment of those who seek vainly to understand it.

Perhaps it is as simple as the ancient story from the Talmud about the rabbi when two brilliant, handsome sons were taken from him one Sabbath afternoon.

Because it was the Sabbath, his wife did not tell him of the tragedy.

After the Sabbath, she said to him: "A man came to see me before the Sabbath and left with me for safekeeping two precious diamonds. Now that the Sabbath has passed, he wants me to give them back to him. What should I do?"

The rabbi quickly replied, "Of course you must return them to the one who gave them to you."

The rabbi's wife then explained, "The Lord gave us two precious diamonds, our two wonderful sons, and now He has taken them back to Him."

Whereupon the rabbi paused and, as the tears came to his eyes, said, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Today, days after our first grief, we remember the blessing those whose lives were taken -- those gems -- were to everyone their lives touched. If, as all the wisest people of all the generations have taught, seeking is rewarded with knowledge, sacrifice with joy, love with love, then for all the brevity of their lives, they have reached a rich fulfillment. May the memory of each of them continue to be a consolation for us. May their tragic departure inspire us to cherish more dearly our own precious gift of life. Remembering them, may all of us in this great country help dry one another's tears and help restore each other to the joy that is our best memory of them.

And may their souls rest in peace.

A time to restore

I am uncertain how many of my fellow Americans share the deep, haunting feeling that has been with me almost from the moment the news of the first terrorist attack was announced, but since that time, there has been a recurring thought that seems to defy erasure. Indeed, it would almost seem common sense that such a thought would prevail.

America, as the focal point of the dreams and aspirations of virtually every human being on this Earth, was ultimately bound to be the target of the most demonic spirits known to mankind: envy, hatred, revenge, insanity. All of these pathologies are self-inflicted, created by lesser beings unable to cope with reality and unwilling to adapt to acceptance. Soon enough these spirits take human form, as evidenced by the willingness of the attackers to kill without discrimination, to destroy their enemy, regardless of age or innocence.

As history's most successful, most powerful nation, we are at the forefront of this hatred, inheriting it not through our conduct but by the remarkable achievements of our society. From the vision often gained only by hindsight, we should have expected the attacks that occurred, having experienced ones of less viciousness previously. Our innocence was in our unawareness that lurking in civilization's depths were tribal animals that had never even begun to climb from the lowest of depths.

The challenge before us is not in mustering the weapons and methods of retribution but in retaining the qualities that have marked our civilization for the greatness that much of the world finds and yearns for in our society. We must preserve this society, not only for the sake of ourselves and our children's children, but for the sake of others around the world who aspire someday to join or emulate the civilization we have achieved through the grace of God. This is the legacy that must be preserved as we go about the task of relighting America's beacon for all mankind.

Jack Stapleton is the editor of Missouri News and Editorial Service.