Part of a message to First Things subscribers. Written Wednesday
September 12, 2001:
...It will be -- among the many other things
New York wills to be -- a city of funerals for the next several
weeks. The church, the residence, and our offices are all north
of 14th Street. At the house and office, everyone is safe. I am
sure the same is not true of all our parishioners. It is weird.
We can look down the avenues and see the still billowing smoke,
as though watching a foreign country under attack, but of course
it is our city, and our country. Before and after September 11,
what difference will it make? That's the subject of endless
chatter and nobody knows. For what it's worth, I anticipate five
major changes. It will inaugurate a measure of national unity
and sobriety in a society that has been obsessed by fake pluralisms
while on a long and hedonistic holiday from history. There will be
an understandable passion for retaliation and revenge that could
easily veer into reckless bellicosity. A legitimate concern for
increased security will spark a legitimate concern for personal
freedoms. After some initial sortings out, America will identify
itself even more closely with Israel. Finally, the question of
"the West and the rest" will be powerfully sharpened, including
a greatly heightened awareness of the global threats posed by
militant Islam. That's a mixed bag of possible consequences, and,
of course, I may be wrong on any one or on all five scores. But
these are thoughts one day after. The immediate business is to
bury the dead and console the living.
RJN
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