[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 115 (Thursday, September 12, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H6244-H6245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   LESSONS LEARNED FROM SEPTEMBER 11

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, as we continue our reflection on September 
11, I wanted to take a moment to enter into the Record a piece written 
by the

[[Page H6245]]

Speaker Pro-tempore of the Florida House of Representatives, Sandra 
Murman from Tampa, Florida, and it goes like this:
  ``When I hear the date September 11, images immediately flood my 
mind. I see the plane hit the second tower. I see the Pentagon on fire 
and I can hear the sickening crunch as the towers fall while throngs of 
people run to escape the thick gray cloud. I also remember the utter 
horror I felt when I realized this was not simply one plane off course 
but rather a planned attack. This was our generation's Pearl Harbor. 
But unlike Pearl Harbor, terrorists hijacked planes full of innocent 
civilians and crashed those planes into buildings filled with more 
innocent civilians. On that day we saw the face and felt the hand of 
evil, but we also saw extraordinary goodness through the lives of 
heroic Americans in Washington, New York, and a Pennsylvania field.
  ``As we gather here to mark the one-year anniversary of the attack, I 
would like to share my thoughts on what I have learned since last 
September,'' she writes.
  ``Lesson one: I have been reminded that life is short and precious. 
That argument with a spouse, the concern over which car to purchase on 
September 10, suddenly seemed so petty after the attacks. As I 
evaluated my own life, I realized what mattered most was my 
relationship with God, my family, loved ones and community. Everything 
I do now needs to have meaning, purpose, and positively impact those 
around me.
  ``Lesson two: Before September 11 we knew we had enemies and lived in 
a dangerous world, but September 11 we discovered that organized groups 
of terrorists had both the desire and the ability to create devastation 
within our country. We can no longer take this security for granted. 
There is our new reality.
  ``Lesson three: On September 11 America showed that we are still a 
nation of heroes. Incredible courage was shown by the New York City 
firefighters who slapped on their gear and charged into the burning 
buildings to help victims escape. New York lost 343 of its finest that 
day. Hundreds of workers in the World Trade Center helped one another 
escape. I remembered hearing the story of one man who, instead of 
escaping Tower Two, chose to remain behind with a disabled colleague 
who could not make it down the stairs. They both perished that day. 
And, of course, we all heard the story of Flight 93, those 
extraordinary men and women who said their good-byes to their loved 
ones, prayed the Lord's Prayer, and with the words of 'Let's roll,' 
charged the cockpit to save countless lives in Washington, D.C.
  ``In an instant these ordinary Americans became legends. All the 
sacrifices on September 11 have left us speechless with gratitude.
  ``Lesson four: We have the responsibility to ensure that the lives 
lost on September 11 were not in vain. We were attacked because of who 
we are. The principles on which our country was founded, freedom, 
equality and the dignity of the individual, are a threat to Islamic 
extremists. They view open, democratic societies as the enemy and want 
to create a society where there is no religious freedom and no civil 
liberty. As defenders of liberty we stand in their way.
  ``At this very moment our servicemen and women are defending the 
cause of freedom throughout the world. Here on the home front we, too, 
have a responsibility. Our defense involves upholding the values of 
America. We have a civic duty to participate in our democratic 
institutions. We have a responsibility to instill in our children a 
love of liberty, a love of country, the difference between right and 
wrong and the willingness to make sacrifices in this ongoing struggle 
between freedom and tyranny.
  ``Let me close by reading President Bush's September 20th speech to 
the Nation:
  `` `Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And 
in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment. 
Freedom and fear are at war. The advance of human freedom, the great 
achievement of our time, and the great hope of every time, now depends 
on us. Our Nation, this generation, will lift the dark threat of 
violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to 
this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire. We will 
not falter. We will not fail.
  `` `Thank you. May God bless you all.' ''
  Sandra Murman, majority leader of the Florida House of 
Representatives.

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