All:

In the last 40 years there have been more than a few events that

have caused America and Americans to view their futures and lives

as having been profoundly changed.

The assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.


Walking on the moon.


The resignation of Richard Nixon.


The Vietnam war.


The Kansas City [sic] bombing.

Each of these events has caused significant damage to the

American view of life as it is lived in America. Through these events

we have shined, struggled, stumbled and failed. Lessons have been

learned, then discarded for the next wave of gimme, gimme, self-

serving, me-first, each wave stronger than the last.

As a society, we hold no one accountable for the despicable acts

that we, through our government and corporations and individuals,

perpetuate on others and on ourselves.

We do great things. We live in the greatest country in the world.

We live in the most fabulous time in history. And we continually

undermine all of this by allowing our basest desires and natures

free rein to commit acts of the blackest kind. We turn our heads

from each view that causes us the least bit of discomfort. Marcos,

Hussein, Pol Pot and a horde of other megalomaniacal sociopaths

have been supported by us. US. Millions have died. Innocents.

Victims. We allowed them to suffer and be killed. We helped kill

them. We gave their killers money, guns and our blessings. We

did, we do.

Too many of our corporations are allowed to commit acts that

damage each of us every day. Too many of our politicians assent

to the lust for profit without the restraint of ethics or accountability.

Too many of us close our eyes, take the money and drown our

better selves in the easy, shallow gratifications offered by those

same corporations.

I spent the day crying. I read the first e-mail to this list, turned on

the television and wept like a child watching the death of a loved

one. I wept for the loss of life. The loss of our illusions of security.

The losses yet to come. The pain that America will now suffer. The

wounds to our body and our mind.

The salve we will apply for immediate relief from our pains will be

vengeance. We may call it "justice" to justify ourselves; and

perhaps it will have some sense of justice, but we will still be

damaged far beyond the ability of retribution's ability to repair us.

The images of September 11, 2001 will stay burned in our minds

for years, replayed as endlessly horrible video loops. Images of

events that have brought us, our nation, to a new point of choosing.

A point of profound change.

Can we, as individuals, as a nation, create changes that hold

accountability up as a new benchmark for our actions? Will we

move our great nation to a new level of ethical behavior? Will we

become the people that we wish we were?

Each day we are offered choices, perhaps we will make the

choices that will lead us to a place where we can live once again

without fear. We are able. Perhaps this time we will find the will.

Jay Cousins