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Through candlelight services, the ringing of the bells, and special
ceremonies, Mercer University has come together as a community on several
occasions to grieve the tragic events of Sept. 11. The remarks below were
made at a campus chapel service held on Sept. 12 on the Macon campus.
Overcoming Our Nation's Tragedy: Remarks by
Mercer University President R. Kirby Godsey
on Sept. 12, 2001
Thank you for coming this morning. I also want to thank Rick Wilson,
who serves as Dean of the Chapel, for gathering this University community
together yesterday. I was on our Atlanta campus, where an assembly was
held as well.
This is a time to be together as a University community. We must take
care and look out for one another during such times of national turmoil
and uncertainty -- which has become so much a part of our lives since
yesterday morning. Yesterday was, by any measure, an unprecedented day
in the history of our nation. Nothing in our history compares to what
happened yesterday, and so we are finding our way into new territory.
We are a young nation when you think about the nations of the world. We
are a young nation full of resilience and full of resolve, even while
we are trying to find our way. But clearly, I want to confess to you this
morning, we are all left undone by these unspeakable and indescribable
tragedies which have come upon us. And, I say again, that this time is
new ground for all of us. While references have been made, for example,
to the tragic event at Pearl Harbor almost exactly 60 years ago, lacking
a few months, this is not a duplication, in my view, of Pearl Harbor.
It is even more tragic, and we stand in a place we have not been.
Let me say that I believe that there are no easy answers. I do not come
before you as an assembly to offer you easy answers to what we are going
through as a people. I certainly have not come to make pronouncements
or to offer pontification. Nearer to the truth would be to say that I
have come to weep with you and to say that we share this turmoil and this
tragedy as a University community together. It's always this way in life's
most difficult trials and tragedies. There are no glib responses. As Secretary
of State Colin Powell said, these were indeed attacks not just on America,
but they were attacks on civilization itself. Suddenly, we are faced with
a different kind of war, a different kind of human conflict.
Evil is irrational. That is why we find it so difficult to speak because
we are trying to speak of that which is not rational. It makes no sense,
and when we are faced with what makes no sense, we are thrown into silence
-- utter, utter silence -- unable to speak. But you and I live in a world
where chaos often prevails. It makes us aware, above all else, that the
work of creation is still very much underway, because, in the final analysis,
creation is all about bringing order out of chaos, bringing cosmos out
of chaos. You and I and our leaders -- every American and, indeed, every
citizen of the world -- must try to find ways to hover, to brood over
this chaos, silently, at times unable to speak, yet trying to find some
modest step toward bringing order and sense out of nonsense and human
hurt. We cannot simply look to other people. We cannot simply look to
Washington, to the people of New York. We must be part of building a new
order.
The question is, what can we do to become, in some small measure, to
become instruments of hope, to become instruments of peace where violence
prevails, to become bearers of grace in a world that is torn apart this
morning by these tragic events? Several months ago, I said to our Board
of Trustees, that I believe the greatest threat to human civilization
today is the rise of international terrorism. So elusive, so deadly, so
difficult to contain, so unconventional, so mysterious in its ways, yet
so sinister and so devoted to their causes. Terrorism, of which we are
all victims -- not only the people of New York and Washington -- is spawned
by fear, spawned by resentment. It is spawned by deep bitterness in the
hearts and souls of people. Terrorism is spawned by intolerance, especially
religious intolerance. I believe that Christians and Jews and Muslims
all over the world decry and abhor what has happened. What has happened
is rooted in religious intolerance, generated very often by Christian
and Jewish and Islamic fundamentalists that lie behind much of the world's
terrorism. These are people who kill and maim in the name of God. They
are people who are captured by the power of evil to destroy order and
sustain the chaos.
The American nation, with all of its might and military power, will surely
respond militarily. There is no need for us to debate the wisdom of that
response. The national psyche has been deeply violated, and there will
be, because of that violation, a response. We need to pray for our leaders
and for our nation, for our military, and for their families. We need
to pray for the search and rescue teams, that are literally working without
rest, and for hospital and relief workers that have not rested. While
we respond to this terrible tragedy militarily, we should learn that our
military action would be a penultimate solution but not an ultimate solution.
Ultimately, we will indeed defend our nation. We should know that violence,
ultimately, will never cure violence. Hatred will never drive out bitterness.
We are only infants in our journey toward civilization. We have only just
begun to take steps. We have so far to go, and so much to learn, as people
of the world.
So, where do we turn? I think we need to be present for one another,
to listen, to listen in small groups, to listen in classes, to listen
in the cafeteria, to listen and embrace and take care of one another.
We need to continue our lives. I have asked classes to resume, but I want
to acknowledge and encourage discussions in classes, in those kinds of
settings in which we can talk about our fears and our uncertainties.
I want to thank the faculty for how they have embraced the students.
I walked around the residence halls last evening, speaking to students
and listening to students. There was a remarkable quietness about those
halls, people uncertain about what to say, people talking on telephones
to parents. We are all affected in different and profound ways. We have
family and friends who have been affected by this tragedy and we are all
still trying to comprehend. We will still be trying to comprehend and
to understand these events for days and weeks and even months to come.
I am sure that we will never quite be the same as a people, but we can
become stronger people, and we can become more civilized people. We can
become more caring people. We can be people who are more sensitive to
the moment, more sensitive to reaching out to each other. But again, we
need to continue with our classes and continue with our relationships,
because to do otherwise is to become even more victimized by the terrorism.
We, as a University, need to strengthen one another. I want to thank the
faculty and staff of the University for their warmth and compassion and
understanding, for making this time a time for teaching important lessons
about our lives. Each of us can help in little but enduring ways. Some
will listen to somebody who hurts, who is afraid. Some give blood. It
is a time to weep, and it is a time to find hope.
Finally, our greatest gift to overcome the chaos and to continue to a
new day is our work of teaching and learning at Mercer. We must keep learning.
We must keep learning! The world needs people of intellect and compassion,
tough minds who care. Our work of education here is holy work. We need
people more than ever in the generations ahead, if we are to take more
steps to becoming more civilized. We need people who can solve problems
with greater creativity and with discipline, who will use words instead
of bullets, who will find a way beyond the violence that has torn us.
So, the work of this University, its highest and most important work,
is to plant seeds of hope for tomorrow and for a new generation. We come
here together because we are consumed by the loss. We are huddled together
as a University community to touch each other, to connect with one another,
and to say we will be together and continue our work, continue to live
as a community who are bent on planting seeds of hope for a new day.
I have asked Rick Wilson, Dean of the Chapel, who has been such a resource
to us, to come and lead us in a moment of devotion.
-- 30 --
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