Lebanon 9/11 Patriot's Day Remarks
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007
Lebanon, PA
by Attorney General Tom Corbett

Thank you, Mayor Anspach, for that kind introduction. It is both a pleasure and an honor to join you all this evening for this very special Patriot's Day program.

I would like to start tonight with a simple question -- Where were you six years ago? 

Raise your hands if you can tell me exactly what you were doing when you first heard the news of the Sept. 11th attacks. I'm certain that you can tell me what you were doing, where you were, who you were with, and everything else you did that day. It was a day that began with shock, anger and fear.  We could not comprehend, at first, exactly what was happening  -- and even after we began to realize what had happened, we struggled to understand why and how something like this could happen.

What were you doing six years ago?

Like tonight, I am certain that many of you gathered with family and friends in 2001. We headed home from work, picked up the kids at school and gathered quietly around televisions and radios, anxious for news and hoping against all hope for miracles and survivors. 

We wept for the families who lost husbands and wives, friends and colleagues in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and on those airplanes.  We watched in amazement as hundreds of firefighters, police officers and other emergency responders rushed into danger, trying to save others, and recoiled in horror as those towers, and so many lives, disappeared in an instant. And we were awed by the bravery of the passengers and crew aboard United Flight 93 - who fought back on that dreadful day.

People from all walks of life were caught up that day in our first battle of a brand new kind of war. They were our country's first patriots in this struggle, but not the last. 

What were you doing six years ago?

We looked outside at clear blue skies and bright sunshine.  It was a picture-perfect September day, except for the smoke that was rising over Manhattan, and Washington D.C., and Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

An eerie stillness descended over our neighborhoods:  No planes in the sky, no traffic on the highways, no ballgames or kids playing in the park. 

As a nation we paused, we held our loved ones close, we prayed or looked for comfort in church, and in the quiet that surrounded us on that tragic day, we took stock of the things that were really important to us: Our families, or communities, our freedoms and our way of life.  We were staggered by this brutal blow, and it made us pause.  In fact, the whole world stopped and watched, wondering what would happen next.

How many of you can clearly remember the days before Sept. 11, 2001?

A time when we didn't automatically empty our pockets before entering an official building, a time when we didn't take our shoes off and hand over our toothpaste before getting on a plane, and a time when you called "lost and found" about that briefcase or backpack sitting in the lobby, not the bomb-squad.

Now, those things are routine - perhaps too much so.  The strains of "God Bless America" have faded from our ballparks and community events.  Our fight against terror has become a political tug-of-war  -- an argument over "who is most correct."  We grow frustrated by the lines and delays, cynical about public safety efforts and callous about the sacrifices that American men and women are making every day, half-a-world away.  And we argue over whether we are on the right course, wondering when this struggle will be over instead of focusing on what still must be accomplished.

We are faced with forces of hatred around the world: People who detonate car bombs in crowded market places and neighborhoods, people who blow-up trains, busses and subways filled with innocent civilians, and people who plot to murder American soldiers - here in the US or abroad.  These are not "revolutionaries," insurgents or freedom fighters.  These are criminals, thugs and murderers, determined to crush freedom and independence.

This is not a struggle about faith, because no faith on earth condones the slaughter of innocent people or the wanton spread of terror.  This is a fight between freedom and oppression, between peaceful order and anarchy and most importantly, between good and evil.

America is the world's beacon for freedom and opportunity  --  we are that "Shining city upon the hill," to borrow a phrase from President Ronald Reagan.  People from all over the world are drawn here to escape the heavy hand of dictatorships or the crushing hopelessness of poverty.

Decent, hard-working people from across the globe risk everything, including death, every day, just to make it to our shores in the hope of becoming Americans.  They pack themselves into leaky boats, tackle the ocean on rafts made of old inner tubes and rusty oil drums, or walk through deserts, just for the slim chance to enjoy what we have. 

We are a beacon to the world: A beacon of freedom, and a beacon of hope to suffering people around the globe.  But that beacon is also a target for radical fundamentalists, who try to impose their own narrow views on everyone around them.  They seek to control exactly what people say, what people do, how they dress, how they think, what they believe and how they live their lives.  They have only one view of the world, and they are using violence and destruction as tools to impose that viewpoint on the entire world.  Hiding in caves and huts half-a-world away, they plot a war against anything, or anyone, who deviates from their rigid and constricted view of the world.

Our freedom, and our free-spirit, are the greatest threats to these fanatics, because you can only impose their type of oppressive doctrine when people have no other choices.  We are a nation of free choice.  Our country was created by a boat-load of settlers who came to these shores to escape religious oppression and to follow the faith they chose - not a faith forced on them by their government.  Since those early days we have always been a safe-haven for people of all faiths, and we will always be that safe-haven for freedom-loving people around the world.

The terrorists have tried to douse our beacon of freedom because they do not want people drawn to a place where opportunities are limitless, and hard work, inspiration and skill determine your success. They tried to crush our beacon of hope because they do not want people to know that they can control their own destiny. But our beacon cannot be extinguished, and our hope and spirit lives eternal.

We may disagree about some of the details -- about exactly how to go about this task -- but we can all agree that this is the defining struggle of our time.  The purpose for tonight's program, and similar events all across our country today, is to remember. Memorial Day sprang from the great struggle of our Civil War, more than 100 years ago; Armistice Day, now Veteran's Day, originally marked the sacrifices of so many Americans during World War I; and now Patriot's Day locks the events of Sept. 11, 2001 into our national memory.

The concerts, the flags and the markers are all tools that we use to bring those memories back. We listen now, as we listened then; We count our blessings now, as we did then; and we look inside ourselves again, to renew our dedication to doing what is right for our families, for our communities and for our country.

Patriot's Day  --  Sept. 11  --   is a "living memorial" to the casualties we have suffered, the sacrifices we have made and to changes we have made since 2001.  Years from now our children and grandchildren will look back on this time in history, much as we look back on the Pearl Harbor attack and the struggles that followed for our parents and grandparents. They will not judge us by what we say - by the speeches we made.  They will judge us by what we do - by the actions we take to preserve our freedom and opportunity, for ourselves, for them and for future generations of Americans.

Tonight we celebrate.  We join together to listen to music and to salute the people who have given that "last full measure" to protect our communities.  But we must leave here tonight dedicated to action -- to living each day to the fullest potential. to making our country the best nation on earth, and to preserving that Shining City Upon the Hill.

We know it is not an easy task.  The forces we face will not rest until they have doused the lights of our shining city and left it in ruins. But what the terrorists do not understand is that they will never be able to destroy that shining city, or extinguish those lights, because the power of America does not come from its buildings or landmarks.  The true power of America comes from its people, its ideas and its freedom.

We stand united in defense of our neighborhoods and our nation; we pledge to never forget the sacrifices made by so many brave men and women; and we are committed to the mission at hand.  We are 330 million strong, and working together we will succeed.  You cannot crush our spirit, you cannot exhaust our energy and you cannot destroy our will. 

We are Americans, and we will not be defeated.