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I’m sure a lot of people are spending time this week reflecting on the events of a year ago, and what has happened since then.  The shared experience of that horrible event has brought Americans together, overcoming their petty differences in a way that hasn’t happened in generations.  In a search for words when events leave us speechless, it is fitting that Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address will be quoted at Ground Zero to consecrate the places and the memories of tragedy, and to dedicate us anew to the goals of our fragile but enduring democracy.

As I reflect, I note that Lincoln was leading his country through a time darker than ours, in which brother was fighting brother and the basic social contract of our nationhood had been lain aside.  Visiting what had been one of the bloodiest battlefields in human history, Mr. Lincoln did not see the need to dehumanize his enemies as evil-doers or to wallow in the hatred that had been visited upon that place.  Instead, he saw the need for rebirth and rededication among all people, both victor and vanquished, and the pain of loss on all sides.

As a baby-boomer I lived through the innocence of the rock-and roll 50’s and 60’s, and the transition into the darker lessons of racial violence and our misbegotten adventures in Vietnam.  We lacked the wisdom of a Lincoln to guide us then, and we watched as many of those whom we looked up to gave in to baser instincts of hubris and hatred.  These instincts did not serve them well; we ended that era weaker as a nation, and divided as a people.  Today I saw a matronly baby-boomer in her Lexus SUV with a large home-made peace symbol pasted onto the back window, and it made me think that we have returned again to a familiar but dangerous crossroads.

Americans, drawn together by tragedy and dedicated to the unifying spirit of our democracy, are a uniquely powerful force in the world.  I hope that in the coming months we will find the means, truly consecrated by Mr. Lincoln’s words, to use our moral authority in guiding the world toward peace.  If we dedicate ourselves on September 11 to take this path, difficult as it may be, rather than descending down the easy slope into conflict, our actions will constitute a profound and lasting memorial for those who have fallen.