Thoughts on 9-1 - the Attack on America
By Phil Guidry
philipguidry@hotmail.com

Experiencing war via email, cell phones, and wall-to-wall television coverage, my initial response was unlike what you see of our 1940s heroes on the History Channel.

I stared ahead in dumb shock. I cried.

As twentysomethings, we've always been intrigued and inspired by the deeds of what Tom Brokaw dubbed 'The Greatest Generation.' From Saving Private Ryan and Pearl Harbor to Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers, we've struggled to connect with their heroism.

But we've been something of a Lost Generation, absent a cohesive and unifying force - Pearl Harbor, the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK assassination - to galvanize us. Indeed, the most incredible domestic event of our lives (before September 11, 2001) was a contested presidential election that, if anything, widened our rifts.

We've longed for the deeds of our heroic past because, to us, it seemed black and white: Good guys. Bad guys. Military might. Patriotism. Winning. Losing. Simple.

I wondered: how would we have reacted then? Would we have flinched from the challenge? Would the geopolitical map look wildly different today? Would we have even made it this far?

And I worried: what would happen if such a challenge arose today? Would our divisiveness continue to sabotage us from the inside? Would we flinch and cower from the gravest responsibility like we flinched and cowered from the minor ones?

Now we have our answer.

The headlines of tax cuts, NASDAQ, WTO riots, Eminem lyrics, and butterfly ballots evaporated in the smoke-filled rubble of our two most famous cities. The malaise of living for ourselves was erased by footage of wild celebrations in far-away lands.

They cheered our suffering.

What does that mean? More than anything else, it means we have some work to do.

This war, they tell us, will be different. It will be fought in shadows, fought with propaganda, fought with public opinion and heightened security. They tell us that things are muddled, that we don't really know what to do, don't know who to do it to.

But our course of action has never been clearer. We - a Lost Generation that may have found itself in the midst of unspeakable horror - will do what Americans do best, what Americans have done better than anyone in history.

We will get back on planes. We will clean up the mess. We will manufacture our goods. We will go to church. We will give blood. We will go to rock concerts. For heaven's sake, we will watch baseball.

At the base of lower Manhattan, we will build a 111-story monument.

We will project a surehanded faith and confidence all over the world. Our embassies and diplomatic missions will reopen, and they will continue to reach out to the world. We will not neglect our humanitarian duties in the Middle East, in central Africa, in the Balkans, or here at home. We will provide a stern but loving face to the omnipresent fight for freedom.

If it comes down to it, Lord bless us all, we will fight.

We have been challenged.

We will respond.