The American Dream Is Alive and Well

They killed innocent people. They killed people who couldn't fight back. They killed mothers and fathers and sons and daughters and grandmothers and grandfathers and uncles and aunts. They killed people who did nothing more that day than what they normally did: try to earn a living. They killed people who were living the American Dream.

The people who planned those horrible attacks were trying to destroy the American Dream.

They failed.

So on this September 11, as we remember the innocent people who died a year ago, let us also remember that the American Dream didn't die with them. People still come to America by the thousands. They come because they want to live in freedom. They come because they want to be able to choose how to live their lives. They come because they want to be able to criticize their government--and live to tell their friends about it. They come because they want to be able to worship any deity they want to (or none at all). They come because they believe in a system of justice that assumes that people are innocent unless they are proven guilty.

They come for a thousand other reasons. And more often than not, they stay.

The American Dream isn't dead. It lives in the hearts and minds of millions of people, in America and all over the world.

First page > September 11 > Page 1, 2

Graphics courtesy of ArtToday