Maureen Dowd
| With their oxymoronic holy war, Osama bin Laden and his murderous disciples meant to expose our moral vacuity. They simply succeeded in illuminating how little all our baubles and all our booty have to do with who we really are. |
But our culture turns out to be about much more than its glittery surface, and that's been clear in all that's happened since Sept. 11: the exposure to the quiet lives of inspiration that so many victims led; the valor of rescue workers; the altruistic derring-do of the men who fought back on Flight 93; our concern about inflicting unnecessary suffering on innocent Afghans; the generosity and civic tolerance at the heart of our country's response to horrific loss.
With their oxymoronic holy war, Osama bin Laden and his murderous disciples meant to expose our moral vacuity. But they exposed only their own. They simply succeeded in illuminating — not just to the rest of the world but to us — how little all our baubles and all our booty have to do with who we really are.
The terrorists taught us this: We are more than the sum of our stuff. |