It was the 21st Century’s “Day of Infamy.”
It was a day that will live in the annals of courage and patriotism.
Tonight we’ve paid tribute to those who were lost
and those who survive the fire and the fate that rained down upon them
and the heroes at Ground Zero who, in life and death, wear an indelible badge of honor.
We celebrate not only them, but all our fellow Americans
for the intended victims of this attack were not just on the planes
and at the Pentagon or the World Trade Center;
they were wherever else they roam the sky.
The targets were not just the symbols of America, but they were the spirit of America
and the intended victims were all 300 million of us.
The terrorists foresaw a nation fearful, doubtful, ready to retreat.
Oh, they left us wounded — but renewed in strength
and we’ll stand and we will not yield.
The terrorists who wanted 300 million victims instead are gonna get 300 million heroes;
300 million Americans with broken hearts, unbreakable hopes for our country and our future.
In the conflict that’s come upon us, we’re determined as our parents and our grandparents were before us
to win through the ultimate triumph — so help us God.
There’s a song that celebrates America and beckons us to what we can become:
“America! America! God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!”
O beautiful for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stem, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw
Confirm thy soul in self-control
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife
Who more than self the country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
