DECLARATION OF REMEMBRANCE & RESOLVE
We, the people of this place
of many faiths and faces,
of this one race in which we trace our blood and our humanity,
of the Being by whose grace we came to be,
of this planet on which we all may come to be free,
declare this day our searing sorrow,
and our restoring resolve for tomorrow.
We remember the loss and the cost of September 11, 2001,
and we resolve this September
to be the leaven of a new world community
and cast from the remains of the pain
a foundation of faith and compassion to make us whole again.
We remember
the clear and friendly skies,
the powerful steel towers of world trade,
the impenetrable Pentagon,
the thousands of souls and names who went up with the flames,
from this nation and 135 others around the world,
the police, the firefighters, and their fallen chaplain,
those who gave their lives to save others,
the heroes who took the hijackers down with them in a Pennsylvania field,
the rescuers doggedly digging and putting our pieces back together,
the families torn, awaiting and claiming remains,
the teddy bears worn by wind and rain, sentinels by candlelight at the site
where martyrs of terror punched a hole in a nation’s, and the world’s soul,
but could not puncture our hope for resurrection, or our resolve.
Therefore, for all who are gone, for all here, and for all to come, we resolve:
never to resort to revenge or retaliation,
ever to affirm the dignity of all people,
and the solidarity of the whole human family,
not to be overcome by evil,
to restore more than a world trade center and grounded buildings,
to forge new foundations, not just for our nation,
but for a world where all nations and people
live in safe structures and cities,
respect and protect all faiths, races, and cultures,
receive good food, water and livelihood,
and have good will and good hope for tomorrow.
To this we resolve and dedicate our lives today
that those who died
die not in vain
but for the gain
of life with justice and peace for all.
