The bells that toll the first anniversary of a terrible day in American history signal in part that it is time to move on, to proceed from anger and grief to the rest of one's life. It is also a time for Americans to review what we have learned in the year since the attacks. The key question by which we as a people will continue to judge ourselves and our government is the degree to which we are safer now than we were a year ago.
It is time to move on -- not to forget. We need to strive to complete the healing process. Sept. 11 risks becoming for some an obsession that weakens through fear -- fear of flying, of mosquitoes, of being in public places. It is also moving into the category of a topic that is subject to misuse by people who are to a degree insincere or seeking to sell something through exploitation of the awful events of Sept. 11, 2001.
We are told that we learn through suffering. What have we learned from the agony of Sept. 11, 2001? One lesson is that there are people who hate America and Americans. We probably knew this but didn't want to believe it. It has been part of our mythology to assume that everyone in the world admires and envies Americans and wants to be like us. We have been reminded otherwise.
Another of our favorite myths is that everyone wants to come to the United States because of our freedoms and the better life our country offers. On Sept. 11, 2001, we learned that there are some people who come here to wreck the place or to take advantage of our freedoms once they have been here long enough to devise and hatch their lethal plans. This was another painful but useful lesson.
Perhaps one of the most profound lessons learned was the importance of being a little suspicious as we consider people's words and acts, keeping in mind the possibility that someone is planning something evil. This is not paranoia after Sept. 11, 2001; it is normal prudence.
We have also acquired a stronger sense of the value of our freedoms as we have been forced to weigh them in balance against efforts to erode them in the name of security. If two Americans can be declared enemy combatants on the basis of the Sept. 11 attacks, what happens to the protections of citizenship?
The critical question remains, are we safer today than we were a year ago? We were never safe. We could never be safe. But we are somewhat safer now than we were a year ago. Knowledge and conscientiousness as well as specific measures make that true.
At home we are more vigilant, more aware of actions that could be a piece of an ugly terrorist act in the embryo stage. Overseas, working on the principle that the best defense is a good offense, we have taken the battle to the enemy, severely damaging the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan and pushing potential attackers off balance in a number of other countries around the world.
Sept. 11, 2002, is a day for tears for those we lost a year ago today. It is also a day to take off our mourning, to stop wearing black and look to the future. This has been quite a year. We have taken revenge, demonstrated resilience in the face of severe adversity and are at the point now to show our ability to look resolutely toward the future. Would anyone whom we lost that September day have us do otherwise?
E-mail this story 
