Contact: Caroline Rabbitt (202) 224-2353
Washington, D.C.- Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today released the following reflection on the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11:
"It's hard to believe it's been 15 years since the attacks of September 11, 2001. So much time has passed, yet it still seems so immediate, probably because our world is shaped by that day and so many lives remained touched by it.
"Nearly 3,000 souls perished that day. Tens of thousands of lives were shattered by those lost loved ones. Many more lost their lives or their loved ones in the wars that followed.
"When this day comes around each year, I think of not only the Americans who died, but also those who lived. The husbands and wives who endured goodbye phone calls. The kids who never knew their mom or dad. The parents who waited months to lay their children to rest. Their pain and heartbreak is hardly imaginable, assuaged in some measure, one hopes, by the continued prayers and love of their fellow citizens
"But I also think about those who displayed what's best about the American spirit. Father Mychal Judge, who did his duty to God and man without regard to his own safety. Welles Crowther, who led strangers to safety at the cost of his own life. Todd Beamer and the heroes of Flight 93, who refused to surrender and won the first battle of the war on terror. And so many others.
"Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda thought they would break the American spirit on 9/11. They couldn't have been more wrong. America is made of much tougher stuff than they imagined. To borrow from Churchill, "we have not journeyed all this way across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy."
"We showed them what we're made of in the days immediately following 9/11. If ever there was a time for Americans to despair, surely it was in those dark days, when Ground Zero was still smoldering. But we didn't despair. We pulled together, we prayed, we flew flags, we gave blood, we enlisted, and we embraced as one people. More Americans were satisfied with the direction of our country in those days than at any time in my lifetime. It must've been a shocking thing for our enemies to see.
"I belong to what's been called the 9/11 Generation. That day was our own hinge of fate. We took up arms against our enemies to obtain vengeance for that attack, and to stop another attack. But I hope our legacy, more than any battlefield victory, will be to revive and preserve the spirit of the days following that day: the fellow feeling, the patriotism, the pride, the solidarity, the belief that America can still conquer our greatest challenges.
"That would be a fitting tribute to the patriots of 9/11 and a fearsome rebuke to our enemies: to remember 9/11 not only as a day of tragedy but also as a day of American renewal."
