The new year is time
for reflection and hope
This is a new year’s season the likes of which has not been seen for at least 60 years. Some people might argue that we have never seen a year like this, when the United States was attacked on its own soil by an enemy from across the seas.
Technically speaking, when Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese attack was against the armed forces of the United States, not on an American state, since Hawaii was still two decades away from statehood.
Sept. 11 changed all that when terrorist forces, acting at the behest of a madman, rained death and destruction on New York City, the Pentagon and in the hills of western Pennsylvania. Life changed for us that sunny morning — perhaps forever.
Given the events of the final third of 2001, this year, perhaps more than any other we have ever seen, is a time for new year’s resolutions.
Let us resolve to watch out for each other.
Let us resolve to make our country as safe as it can be, but not at the expense of sacrificing our civil liberties as a means of achieving the safety we seek.
Let us resolve to pay attention to what happens in our communities, rather than speeding through daily life only to find out when it’s too late that our communities are not what we expected or hoped they would be.
New Jersey took a big hit on Sept. 11, as hard a hit as the steel and concrete twin towers of the World Trade Center. Hundreds of New Jersey residents — including many from the towns served by Greater Media Newspapers in Monmouth, Ocean and Middle-sex counties — were killed in the attacks. Many more were injured.
The emotional scars borne by the families of the victims will never completely heal, and for them this will not be a happy new year. The events of Sept. 11 can not be blown away with a horn or drowned in a champagne toast.
We grieve for our neighbors and friends who have suffered and who continue to deal with this tragedy.
We are thankful for the men and women who have volunteered to put themselves in harm’s way to seek out and eliminate the cancer of terrorism. We pray for the safe return of America’s fighting sons and daughters.
Happy new year.