Dear America:
Although I'm not one of your citizens,ÿI can feel your pain in these moments of crisis and I share your outrage against those who attacked you so viciously.ÿAnd just like you've cried, I have also cried. I've cried of fear, of sadness, of overwhelming anxiety.
In the face of these barbaric strikes perpetrated by outside forces, you might feel that the world is indeed heartless and hostile. I want to tell you that the contrary is true.
For each of those evil fanatics that inflicted unspeakable harm on you and your loved ones, there are millions of men and women out there who stand by you in this darkest hour. Who pray for you in this most difficult time. Who cry for you in these moments of horror.
We've seen thousands of Londoners wipe tears from their eyes as they joined Queen Elizabeth at St. Paul's Cathedral for a memorial service. Under the same spirit of solidarity, my country's embassies cancelled all Mexican independence day celebrations.
Meanwhile, American flags have popped up across continents including Europe, where Germans have gathered red, white, and blue flowers to create a giant Stars and Stripes in front of the Opera House in Frankfurt. Furthermore, every single civilized country on the face of the Earth has sent you their condolences and expressed their solidarity with your plight.
How could your friends abroad do any less? After all, you've given us so much. Arms wide open, you have received into your family millions of immigrants from every corner of the world; giving a house to the impoverished, freedom to the oppressed, hope to the disheartened.
And yet, your contributions to the world go far beyondÿyour willingness to provide a stage where so many immigrants have enacted their very own American dream. For whenever and wherever freedom and justice were at stake, you committed your best and brightest to the defense of the weak and the defeat of evil.
It is under your cool yet impervious gaze, and by the force of your gentle yet forceful fist that Hitler's regime of terror came tumbling down, and that the Soviet Union's dreary iron curtain collapsed.
The time has come for another struggle. Evil forces have returned to bring down the freedoms you have so fervently fought for. And yet again, like so many times before, you shall prevail.
History and justice stand firmly on your side, and victory belongs already to those who fight bravely in your honor.
The terrorists want you to kneel down and sacrifice the unique society that you have created, a wonderful sea of opportunities where all men and women are regarded as free and equal regardless of their sex, race, religion or sexual orientation. But the terrorists will not prevail.
Their women might be tied down in darkness, but American women remain empowered and free. Their hearts might be rotten with hatredÿagainst different races and cultures, yet Americans' hearts remain imbued with an indelible sense of tolerance and respect for all the peoples of the globe.
Their gay men might be slaughtered and persecuted, yet in most of your states the gay community enjoys considerable liberty and acceptance.
Each and every day that your people continue to live in this spirit of freedom and tolerance -- the very spirit that your foes so violently despise -- is a day of victory.
Then again, some people say you will never be the same. I agree. For you will emerge from this crisis stronger, wiser and more beautiful than ever.
Blackened fumes might have shrouded the Statue of Liberty in the aftermath of the attack. But now and for eternity she shall stand tall and proud, facing the world in all her glory, her rays of freedom soothingly piercing a limpid blue sky.
America, you shall rise again.
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