U.S. President George W. Bush made a rare move when he delivered an address to the nation on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Many thought that he would choose the zero ground sites, but he chose to deliver his speech in Ellis Island against the background of Statue of Liberty. Having described the incident as the attack against freedom, he found the symbol that would suit his intention. In his address, indeed, he emphasized, Americans will not succumbed to fear but live free today and in the future.
▷Americans looked as determined not to forget the day as their leader who skillfully linked the Statue of Liberty with the terrorist attacks. Their determination was shown at the memorial events that continued through all day long at the ground zero where World Trade Center once stood. What were they thinking when every each name of 2,801 victims were called out? They must have thought about the same as their president, looking back a year ago when the two 110-story twin towers were hit by hijacked commercial aircraft. We will never forget, a banner was hanging on a building near the sites reflecting the American sentiment.
▷The Americans remembrance on the past is also witnessed throughout Hawaii. Right after the attacks by Japanese imperial forces on December 7 1941, all of the Americans shouted, Remember the Pearl Harbor. It was a day of humiliation that 21 warships sank down, 347 fighter jests were destroyed and 2,409 soldiers killed. Instead of erasing the painful memory, however, they chose to remember the day. At the site where Arizona sank down with its 1100 crews, they built a museum. And there, its not hard to find tearful Americans remembering victims.
▷Thats the power of the country making people unite for the memory of historic events. As they won the Second World War after the Pearl Harbor, they might win the war on terrorism in the memory of the Sept. 11 attacks. Given their propensity to remember the past, Bushs determination to hunt down terrorists will not likely disappear unlike the World Trade Center gone in hours after the attacks. We wonder if the ground zero would be another Pearl Harbor years or decades to come.
Bang Hyung-nam, Editorial Writer hnbhang@donga.com