TOM TROTTIER,
Sir, - We mourn for the 3,000 Americans, Canadians, Swiss, Japanese, Australians, New Zealanders, Chinese, Koreans, Indians, Irish, Mexicans and others who died. We see the images again, and again, and again, of the buildings bursting into flames, then collapsing.
Can we gain anything from this beyond a burning anger and a bitter sorrow? Why did dedicated teams of terrorists sacrifice themselves to deliver a blow to the US? I think that, a year on from the September 11th attacks, we should do three things.
First, we should mourn not as Catholics or Protestants or Jews or Muslims. We should mourn all together and pray for understanding and peace.
Second, we should ask why some people hate America so deeply. Is it envy? Is it anger at cultural or economic imperialism? Why? Americans need to understand. We need to live in peace with our neighbours, because we are all neighbours now.
Third, we should be wary of dangers to our liberty and privacy with the pretext of security. However sincere the original motive, abuses for other motives and by other bureaucrats will appear. Benjamin Franklin said long ago: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
The meaning of September 11th does not lie in the horror. For the first time in more than a century, the continental United States felt the scourge of war that so many other countries have suffered. We must learn from this how to prevent war, not how to wage it. - Yours, etc.,
TOM TROTTIER,
Albert Street,
Ottawa,
Canada.
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Sir, - Must we see those terrible clips another hundred times? Do the US and world media not realise that they are doing exactly what bin Laden wants? If you listen very carefully you can just hear the faint jingle of the till.
Remember? Yes, but not like this. - Yours, etc.,
HUGH CAMPBELL,
Johnswell Road,
Kilkenny.