September 11 Interfaith Service Hosted by Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta, September 11, 2002

Go to: Overview | Program (PDF) | Photo Gallery

Remarks by Governor Roy Barnes

None of us will ever forget September 11, 2001.

We will always remember where we were, and what we were doing, when we learned about the horrors that occurred that day.

And we'll always remember the flood of emotions...the numbing shock, the anguish, and the anger...as we watched the awful news unfold on television.

September 11 will be forever written in our memory as one of those defining moments...like the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.

It is a moment that changed the way we look at the world, and how we perceive all other events.

It is a moment that divides history into before...and after.

But our memories of September 11 must be about more than how it affected us personally, or what we were doing on that fateful day.

When we think of September 11, we must never forget the thousands of people who died in those cowardly attacks...the brave firefighters and police...the workers going about their lives at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon...and the passengers on the four doomed airplanes.

We have a duty as Americans to remember them...not just for their sake, but for our own. Because as painful as those memories might be, they will always remind us of important truths.

The unprovoked slaughter of thousands of innocent people reminds us that, while the world is not always clear cut, there is a difference between right and wrong...and between good and evil.

As Americans, we don't think we are better than other people. More fortunate, yes...but not better. That runs against our basic belief that all men are created equal.

But all forms of government are not created equal...and as Americans, we do take pride in the fact that we have the greatest system of government on earth.

No, it's not perfect. Our nation was founded on high ideals, and we have struggled to live up to them. In the last century we fought to gain equal rights for women, African Americans and others who did not always share in the American dream.

But the point is, since our nation was born, we have moved steadily toward realizing the ideals and goals we set for ourselves. Those ideals have always been there...as a challenge to ourselves...and as a beacon to the world.

For more than two centuries, no nation has held the flame of freedom higher...or opened the doors of opportunity wider...than the United States of America.

The cowards who struck America on September 11 understand this. That is why they chose targets that symbolized our vibrant, free economy, and our strong armed forces.

Those cowards had no reason to hate the people they murdered on September 11...they didn't even know them.

But they hated America because of what we stand for in the world...freedom and tolerance and opportunity.

That's why we must never forget those who died one year ago. We must never let time muddy the waters about what happened.

We must always see clearly that this was an attack on the principles that make our nation great.

If we do that, our memory will be more than mourning...it will remind us that we can never take our freedom and our way of life for granted. And it will remind us that sometimes, we must fight to uphold the things we believe in.

The September 11 attacks claimed members of at least 60 Georgia families. One person who lost a loved one was Cindy Taylor, from my hometown of Mableton. Her brother, Vernon Cherry, was a New York firefighter who perished in the attack on the Trade Center. Many other Georgians lost a child, a parent, a spouse or a sibling.

We can think of those who died as victims...but I prefer to think of them as heroes. They join thousands of other Georgians who also gave their lives to protect our freedom.

In World War One, 1,937 Georgians were killed in action, including Earl Bland of Toombs County. Today, I know many members of the Bland family in that part of our state.

Almost 325,000 Georgians fought for freedom in World War Two. Almost 7,000 were killed in action, including Captain Charles Dobbins and Private Clifford Dobbins, both from my home of Cobb County.

When the Korean War tested America's commitment to freedom, 75,000 Georgians answered the call, including Darrell Hendricks of Albany, who enlisted in the U.S. Marines. He was one of 740 Georgians who died in that conflict.

The Vietnam War wasn't popular. But when their country called, 228,000 Georgians answered and served. And 1,584 of them were killed in action, including Artis Wesley Anderson of Atlanta, a private in the U.S. Army.

28,000 Georgians also served in the Persian Gulf War, and 13 gave their lives.

Now, those who fell on September 11 join these other heroes who gave their lives for freedom.

No, they were not soldiers of war. They were innocent people, going about their everyday lives. But their sacrifice still matters.

We often take our lives for granted, because they seem ordinary and uneventful. But September 11 was a reminder that we should treasure the rhythms and patterns and simple moments of everyday life...the routine of getting up in the morning, going to our jobs, sharing time with our family and friends.

Billy Collins, our nation's poet laureate, wrote a poem to mark this first anniversary of September 11. It is titled "The Names," and appropriately, it is a remembrance of those who died.

In that poem, Collins writes that the names of the dead are "written in the air, and stitched into the cloth of the day."

As we have approached this anniversary, we have seen many articles in newspapers and magazines, trying to make sense of what happened.

Some writers claim that September 11 changed everything. Others say it really changed nothing.

I believe the truth is somewhere in between.

Some things are the same as before...while other things can never be the same.

For most Americans, daily life today is really not all that different than it was a year ago. Sure, we might have to wait in a longer line before we get on an airplane or enter a public building...but those are minor inconveniences.

But if life goes on as before, many of us now see it in a new light.

We have a renewed appreciation for every moment, because we have been reminded that life is fragile.

And we feel an even deeper love for the ideals and principles that make our country great, because we have been reminded that there are those in the world who would destroy them. Those reminders are a great gift to us...a gift from the heroes of September 11.

So let us hold that gift to our hearts, by remembering them always.