Your attendance this afternoon is overwhelming, and enormously valued and appreciated. Following my remarks, our Campus Minister, Linda Morgan-Clement, will make announcements about subsequent events this afternoon and later. Let me remind you of one item in my letter posted on the Wooster website: the website will carry updated information about events on campus and beyond, and I encourage you and your parents to refer to the Wooster website for such information.
May we begin this campus gathering with a period of silence for those men, women, and children who have lost their lives today in New York, Washington, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.
We have no choice but to assume that some members of this community–be they students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, family, trustees, and friends–are among those lost or are directly related to those lost. I am confident that I speak for the entire Wooster community in expressing profound sorrow over this unspeakable human tragedy.
In his 1776 pamphlet, The American Crisis, Thomas Paine wrote, "These are the times that try men’s souls." The events of today are far more than an American crisis; they are a world crisis, a human crisis. No matter from what background, or city, or state, or country any one of us comes, every one of our souls is under severe trial today, and may each of us be divinely supported in this time of trial.
The television has carried the banner headline, "America Under Attack." While it is true that America, indeed, is under attack today, all the more so is this an attack against the world, an attack against all humanity.
There is a context to consider. It is most unfortunate that tragedies of this magnitude are not unknown to other parts of the world, and some now resident in our community have suffered through such horror at home. For the majority of this community and indeed of this nation, these tragedies are of an enormity never before experienced. For some others, this is only one of several hugely staggering and threatening events through which they have lived. Regardless of whatever comparisons are made between this event and others, for all of us this is yet another day that will live in infamy.
Given the enormity of these tragedies, it is appropriate that the regularly scheduled events of the College should be cancelled for today and this evening. The need to reflect on today and its ramifications is, itself, enormous, and it is also universal.
On the other hand, I would offer two other needs, perhaps more important:
One purpose of these attacks was almost certainly to bring not just this country but the entire civilized world to a halt. One of our two greatest needs is to deny this attempt. We may pause to reflect today, but we must resist with every fibre of our being all such attempts by the savagely uncivilized in our world to bring the world to its knees. This College will carry on, tomorrow and beyond, our important work, our now even more important work, to educate the young. We accept the responsibility to educate new leaders, from all corners of the world, to restore civilization and peace.
A second purpose of the attacks almost certainly was to pull the world apart, to fracture the world’s community into even more contentious and war-mongering factions. We must likewise resist with every fibre of our being all such attempts. We must act as one community in this critical effort, both as one College community, as one national community, and as one world community.
This College is not untutored and is not inexperienced in the matters of international understanding. In the coming days, as painful as they may be, let us live up to our promise, so that the world can live up to its promise. This is perhaps an ultimate teachable moment. Let us teach each other well in the days ahead.