[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 17648]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATTACKS ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

  Mr. REID. Five years and a day ago, we rarely saw flags flying at 
every door. Five years and a day ago, men in suits rarely wore flag 
pins. Today, 5 years after September 11, from sea to sea, flags fly 
proudly in our front yards, on our suit lapels, and in our hearts.
  The acts of terrorism that September morn lit for all Americans a 
lamp blazing through the smoke and pain and tears and flames. Even as 
our hearts ached, our hopes soared, inspired by the selfless courage 
and devotion of ordinary people performing extraordinary feats of 
courage and devotion.
  Men and women--good, kind, loving moms and dads, sons and daughters, 
brothers and sisters--died that day. For that, we can never cease to 
grieve. But the light that shone on September 11 cannot die. It cannot 
be dimmed. It cannot fail. It cannot fail because it is the light of 
their spirit and of ours. It is the light of a great republic, of a 
free and democratic people.
  September 11 will always be our burden. Our minds, our souls, our 
hearts cannot forget. We must not forget. But we must also always 
remember that our fallen children in those fallen towers relit a lamp 
that outshines the evil done to us. In their loss, and in ours, they 
remind us, as could nothing else, of that for which we stand--that 
liberty is our central value, that freedom is our cardinal virtue, that 
we love our country and our flag and our people for the light we shine, 
on ourselves, to the world, and for the future of humanity.

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