Reflecting: 9/11/01 

Fanaticism is not particular faces--not yellow nor red nor black nor white, not Arab nor Aryan. It is rather the lack of particularity: A mindless faceless evil that invades individuals and groups and turns them into machines of destruction. It is the obliteration of all that we consider human even while each of us carries its potentiality within. So we should use this tragic occasion as an opportunity to reflect on our shared destiny rather than to act on crude instincts that drive us relentlessly toward a dire fate. Let us not disrupt the values that bind us humanly together but instead fight hatred with understanding, evil with love. Let us strive more than ever to see the individual behind each face we meet; To practice the spirit of democracy by living it out with our neighbors, all our neighbors; To come together to comfort one another, purify the poisoned well of hope, and restore the vision that calls us all to fuller life.

Author: Lois Kathleen Kellerman, Ethical Culture Leader