9/11 - Should Americans Forgive?
Full Text Transcript - America On Air #2: 9/11 - Should Americans Forgive? Background: In 2001, 19 terrorists hijacked 4 passenger jets, 2 of the planes crashed into the World Trade Center complex in New York City.
1 plane hit the Pentagon, another 1 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
2,977 people were brutally murdered, over 6,000 people were injured, countless families were ruthlessly destroyed.
The whole world was crying on that day.
Hello my friends.
This week, the main topic in America, in the midst of the race for the position of the Commander-in-chief of the United States, will definitely be the 11th anniversary of the unforgettable tragedy of 9/11.
You know, a lot of people, including you and me, are very upset about what has happened to us and our compatriots - because America, as the beacon of liberty and the last best hope of earth, its very freedom was in danger, its people's lives were horribly threatened by terrorism.
Sun rises, sun sets.
A decade plus a year has passed.
Babies born in the year of darkness have now grown up to be young ladies and gentlemen.
There are children that weren't even born when the tragedy happened, but for most of us, the scenes of the disaster are still fresh in our mind's eye.
We can never forget, not just because it was so shocking and heart-stopping to us that it was etched in the memory of every American, but we are unwilling to forget.
To forget is not wise, it is an insult to God, it is not an American tradition.
But deep in our hearts, we know that if we don't relax, nobody can relieve our sufferings, and the depression will finally backfire on us.
Therefore, my fellow Americans, today I'm going to tell you there is one thing we must do.
And if we don't do this, we will never overcome.
We have to forgive.
Forgiveness is a great American virtue.
The reason is simple.
We have to move forward.
Our everyday lives cannot be filled with fear and anxiety.
You know, if your life is occupied by misery and despair, nothing good is going to happen to you.
Now I'm going to explain why it is important to forgive the wrongdoers, and how we can benefit from doing it.
Yes, when we forgive, we not only don't lose anything, we can even get something.
Sounds amazing, doesn't it? OK, now let me talk about the 6 reasons we have to excuse the fanatics.
First, Forgiveness is central to our faith.
When you do something right, you are rewarded with happiness and satisfaction.
When you do something wrong, you are forgiven by God.
So, when somebody is doing bad things on you, they don't treat you well, they harm you, they make you sad, you should never ever get mad and do the same harm to them.
God didn't give you the right to take revenge.
It will only make the world a worse place.
They blew up our Twin Towers, then we kill their people.
They get angry, and attack us again.
At the end, we lose more than we gain.
Do you still remember how we dealt with the Soviet Union in the Cold War? Had the United States ever fought a war directly against the USSR? No, absolutely not! We let it go, we didn't make friends with them, we also didn't make enemies with them.
We let them die in their own way.
Guess what happened? You know, the USSR collapsed in 1991 and they no longer threaten our Freedom here in America and abroad.
What's more, the people in the Soviet Union got liberated.
They are happy with it as well.
If we do the same on the terrorists, I'm sure they will surrender very soon, in a war minus the shooting.
And the people living under their tyrannies will be set free.
Second, not all Muslims are extremists and not all Muslims hate America.
So you don't need to hate them as well.
Somebody believes that because Islam is a crazy religion, so there are ideological conflicts between Islam and their own faith.
It is not the truth.
Most Muslims don't like war.
They don't like bloodshed, they don't like fighting.
To stereotype all Muslims as terrorists and warmongers is as wrong as to say all Americans are stupid and lazy.
We have to understand that, the common Muslims are different from the extremist Muslims who did bad things to America.
Just like in the WWII, we were fighting against the Nazis, but not the common German people like Albert Einstein; we were fighting against the Imperial Japan, but not Yoko Ono; we were fighting against the Soviet Union, but not Google founder Sergey Brin.
Today, more than 6 million Muslims are living in America, among them around 20,000 people are serving in the US Armed Forces.
They love America as much as you and I do.
Third, we should follow what our Founding Fathers did to the British.
In the Revolutionary Wars, we kicked the British out of American soil, but we didn't send our troops to Britain and invade their country.
Not only did we not have the power and resources to do so, we also didn't want the others to suffer what we have experienced.
I'm not telling you not to do anything when somebody is trying to hurt you, but what we should do first is to defend ourselves, protect ourselves.
Protection means you'd better stay at your home and build a stronger castle, rather than going to others' homes and blow them up.
Because those places are too dangerous.
Americans are the Chosen People.
We simply shouldn't go there.
Fourth, punishment can only be done by God.
God has the highest authority to judge.
We, the common people, are created by God, and shall not punish anybody.
Everybody from different religions is actually brothers and sisters.
Even though it is hard to believe, it is the Truth.
People become extremists because they forget God, they don't have God in their minds.
It is their fault, but remember, my friends, nobody is perfect.
You may also have committed some sorts of crimes, it may be littering, it may be jaywalking, it may be spitting, or some small wrongs that you don't even notice.
But in front of God, we have to admit, a huge mistake and a tiny mistake have no difference in nature.
So why do we blame those who make mistakes while we are also making some sorts of mistakes at the same time? Fifth, resentment is no good to you.
It is a burden in your mind.
We are all created equal, that you have only 24 hours a day.
Nobody has one more or one less second than you do.
If you spend one more second on hating the other, you will have one less second of joy in your life.
Imagine, before you die, when you look back on your life, you figure out that your life is filled with anger and hatred.
How sad it is! You simply waste your life.
You'll regret, but it's just too late.
Leave the burden, I promise you will have a happier life.
Sixth, if you don't forgive those who hurt you and always think about them, you are just making them stronger and yourself weaker.
Why do I say so? Folks, have you ever thought "why did the terrorists attack us?" Yes, of course they wanted to kill as many Americans as possible.
They wanted us to become weaker.
They wanted to take away our freedom.
But at the same time, they wanted us to get angry, they wanted you to feel upset all the day and have no mood to work and go to school.
So what can they do when you are not happy? They can attack us again! You are the weakest when you are out of condition.
We don't want to fall into their trap.
We should not be affected by any of their provocations.
We should stand firm.
Otherwise, their violence will succeed.
They are able to control your emotion and way of life.
And this is not Freedom.
So now you know why we have to forgive, but you may want to ask, "what can I do? What action should I take?" First of all, send the love from God to everybody you encounter, deliver God's messages to everybody you know.
Many people don't know God's Name.
They never feel the Great Love.
It's not because God doesn't love them, it's because they are surrounded by those who also don't have God in their minds.
It's not their fault.
It is our fault.
The fault of followers of God.
Because we didn't work hard enough, we failed to let them know the Grace of God, we failed to show them how great God is.
So, we have to do something on our side first.
We must pray in our heart, ask God to forgive those who have committed severe crimes.
And we must ask God to help them repent of their wrongdoings, ask God to purify their minds, show them the Right Way, and finally they can be reborn as a faithful Follower of God.
Once we take terrorism out of their minds, they are not terrorists anymore.
And terrorism will not exist anymore.
Just pray for them is not enough.
We have to do more than that.
We should take them to America, let more people visit our Great Nation.
I believe that, even for the most radical anti-American terrorists, if they can have a chance to visit our country, to meet and make friends with our nice people, they will definitely fall in love with America right away.
They can feel the best way of life on the land of plenty, their hearts can get softened, and they will get hungry for Freedom.
Does that really work? Yes, it does.
Imagine, suppose you don't like cheeseburger, you hate it so much, you have no idea who the hell has invented such garbage and you want all the cheeseburgers in this world to vanish in the next second and it will never show up ever again.
But unfortunately, you suddenly go broke, you are so hungry, and you are somehow sent to a desert island that virtually nothing is edible.
At this hopeless moment, you discover a mountain of temptingly delicious cheeseburgers right in front of your eyes.
Thousands of cheeseburgers, that you swear you won't eat it again in your life.
But you know your situation.
You're starving.
You're dying.
Will you just ignore it? Will you just walk away and wait to die? No, absolutely not.
God gave you the life and you have no right to give it up.
I bet my bottom dollar you will rush to the burger mountain, gobble down every single cheeseburger like Joey Chestnut does on the Independence Day every year.
The desire is irresistible.
It is a Law of Nature.
When you come to America, you will love America.
It applies to you, it applies to me, it will surely apply to everybody.
And I suggest you go to the Ground Zero.
I have been to there once.
There were a lot of people going there every day, to mourn for the dead, to heal the living, to honor the heroes.
When you want to know more about the Founding of the United States, you go to Philadelphia.
When you want to know more about the Second World War, you go to the Pearl Harbor.
At the Ground Zero, you will get a deeper knowledge of 9/11 and its aftermath.
You will understand why we always say it "United We Stand.
Divided We Fall.
" You can actually feel how bravely our countrymen are fighting against terrorism and protecting our precious Freedom.
You can take the chance to walk around New York City and observe how the fearless New Yorkers recover from the catastrophe.
If you don't have time to go there, it doesn't really matter, you can learn the history and read the newspaper now on the Internet, but I recommend you to stop by when you have a chance.
Don't miss it.
Just bear in mind, Ground Zero is not a tourist spot, it's not just a hole in the ground.
It is a memorial to remind us the significance of Freedom and the value of Life.
So make sure you go there because you want to salute our freedom fighters.
That's why we have to forgive.
Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Forgiveness is the final form of love.
Before I finish today's discussion, I want to share a little story with you.
I've got someone asking me, "9/11 happened to us.
How come God didn't stop it? Does God really love America?" What do you think, my friends? In my opinion, this is a very stupid question, and I can give you a definite answer right now.
Maybe I should put it in this way: Your mother and father love you.
Your brothers and sisters love you, too.
Your kids love you as much as you love them.
You have a great family, you have a lot of friends.
But one day, you go out for a walk and you are hit by a car.
You get heavily injured and you are sent to the hospital.
In this case, does that mean all of them don't love you anymore? Does that mean your family and friends just pretend to like you and they actually hate you and they get someone to hit you? To question why God didn't stop 9/11 is just as silly as to ask why your parents don't kill the driver who has hit you.
It is not their fault.
It is not God's fault.
It is the fault of those who commit the crime.
God gave us free will, and those who don't believe in God commit the crime.
9/11 is not God's deed.
9/11 happened because someone abused their free will and do harm to the others.
If you want those criminals to correct themselves and not to hurt anyone anymore, let us pray to God now, invite them to love America, give them the power to believe in our Lord.
Now I'd like to invite you to recite the prayer below, which is a part of the mission statement of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center in New York City.
May God bless you.
May God bless America.
1 plane hit the Pentagon, another 1 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
2,977 people were brutally murdered, over 6,000 people were injured, countless families were ruthlessly destroyed.
The whole world was crying on that day.
Hello my friends.
This week, the main topic in America, in the midst of the race for the position of the Commander-in-chief of the United States, will definitely be the 11th anniversary of the unforgettable tragedy of 9/11.
You know, a lot of people, including you and me, are very upset about what has happened to us and our compatriots - because America, as the beacon of liberty and the last best hope of earth, its very freedom was in danger, its people's lives were horribly threatened by terrorism.
Sun rises, sun sets.
A decade plus a year has passed.
Babies born in the year of darkness have now grown up to be young ladies and gentlemen.
There are children that weren't even born when the tragedy happened, but for most of us, the scenes of the disaster are still fresh in our mind's eye.
We can never forget, not just because it was so shocking and heart-stopping to us that it was etched in the memory of every American, but we are unwilling to forget.
To forget is not wise, it is an insult to God, it is not an American tradition.
But deep in our hearts, we know that if we don't relax, nobody can relieve our sufferings, and the depression will finally backfire on us.
Therefore, my fellow Americans, today I'm going to tell you there is one thing we must do.
And if we don't do this, we will never overcome.
We have to forgive.
Forgiveness is a great American virtue.
The reason is simple.
We have to move forward.
Our everyday lives cannot be filled with fear and anxiety.
You know, if your life is occupied by misery and despair, nothing good is going to happen to you.
Now I'm going to explain why it is important to forgive the wrongdoers, and how we can benefit from doing it.
Yes, when we forgive, we not only don't lose anything, we can even get something.
Sounds amazing, doesn't it? OK, now let me talk about the 6 reasons we have to excuse the fanatics.
First, Forgiveness is central to our faith.
When you do something right, you are rewarded with happiness and satisfaction.
When you do something wrong, you are forgiven by God.
So, when somebody is doing bad things on you, they don't treat you well, they harm you, they make you sad, you should never ever get mad and do the same harm to them.
God didn't give you the right to take revenge.
It will only make the world a worse place.
They blew up our Twin Towers, then we kill their people.
They get angry, and attack us again.
At the end, we lose more than we gain.
Do you still remember how we dealt with the Soviet Union in the Cold War? Had the United States ever fought a war directly against the USSR? No, absolutely not! We let it go, we didn't make friends with them, we also didn't make enemies with them.
We let them die in their own way.
Guess what happened? You know, the USSR collapsed in 1991 and they no longer threaten our Freedom here in America and abroad.
What's more, the people in the Soviet Union got liberated.
They are happy with it as well.
If we do the same on the terrorists, I'm sure they will surrender very soon, in a war minus the shooting.
And the people living under their tyrannies will be set free.
Second, not all Muslims are extremists and not all Muslims hate America.
So you don't need to hate them as well.
Somebody believes that because Islam is a crazy religion, so there are ideological conflicts between Islam and their own faith.
It is not the truth.
Most Muslims don't like war.
They don't like bloodshed, they don't like fighting.
To stereotype all Muslims as terrorists and warmongers is as wrong as to say all Americans are stupid and lazy.
We have to understand that, the common Muslims are different from the extremist Muslims who did bad things to America.
Just like in the WWII, we were fighting against the Nazis, but not the common German people like Albert Einstein; we were fighting against the Imperial Japan, but not Yoko Ono; we were fighting against the Soviet Union, but not Google founder Sergey Brin.
Today, more than 6 million Muslims are living in America, among them around 20,000 people are serving in the US Armed Forces.
They love America as much as you and I do.
Third, we should follow what our Founding Fathers did to the British.
In the Revolutionary Wars, we kicked the British out of American soil, but we didn't send our troops to Britain and invade their country.
Not only did we not have the power and resources to do so, we also didn't want the others to suffer what we have experienced.
I'm not telling you not to do anything when somebody is trying to hurt you, but what we should do first is to defend ourselves, protect ourselves.
Protection means you'd better stay at your home and build a stronger castle, rather than going to others' homes and blow them up.
Because those places are too dangerous.
Americans are the Chosen People.
We simply shouldn't go there.
Fourth, punishment can only be done by God.
God has the highest authority to judge.
We, the common people, are created by God, and shall not punish anybody.
Everybody from different religions is actually brothers and sisters.
Even though it is hard to believe, it is the Truth.
People become extremists because they forget God, they don't have God in their minds.
It is their fault, but remember, my friends, nobody is perfect.
You may also have committed some sorts of crimes, it may be littering, it may be jaywalking, it may be spitting, or some small wrongs that you don't even notice.
But in front of God, we have to admit, a huge mistake and a tiny mistake have no difference in nature.
So why do we blame those who make mistakes while we are also making some sorts of mistakes at the same time? Fifth, resentment is no good to you.
It is a burden in your mind.
We are all created equal, that you have only 24 hours a day.
Nobody has one more or one less second than you do.
If you spend one more second on hating the other, you will have one less second of joy in your life.
Imagine, before you die, when you look back on your life, you figure out that your life is filled with anger and hatred.
How sad it is! You simply waste your life.
You'll regret, but it's just too late.
Leave the burden, I promise you will have a happier life.
Sixth, if you don't forgive those who hurt you and always think about them, you are just making them stronger and yourself weaker.
Why do I say so? Folks, have you ever thought "why did the terrorists attack us?" Yes, of course they wanted to kill as many Americans as possible.
They wanted us to become weaker.
They wanted to take away our freedom.
But at the same time, they wanted us to get angry, they wanted you to feel upset all the day and have no mood to work and go to school.
So what can they do when you are not happy? They can attack us again! You are the weakest when you are out of condition.
We don't want to fall into their trap.
We should not be affected by any of their provocations.
We should stand firm.
Otherwise, their violence will succeed.
They are able to control your emotion and way of life.
And this is not Freedom.
So now you know why we have to forgive, but you may want to ask, "what can I do? What action should I take?" First of all, send the love from God to everybody you encounter, deliver God's messages to everybody you know.
Many people don't know God's Name.
They never feel the Great Love.
It's not because God doesn't love them, it's because they are surrounded by those who also don't have God in their minds.
It's not their fault.
It is our fault.
The fault of followers of God.
Because we didn't work hard enough, we failed to let them know the Grace of God, we failed to show them how great God is.
So, we have to do something on our side first.
We must pray in our heart, ask God to forgive those who have committed severe crimes.
And we must ask God to help them repent of their wrongdoings, ask God to purify their minds, show them the Right Way, and finally they can be reborn as a faithful Follower of God.
Once we take terrorism out of their minds, they are not terrorists anymore.
And terrorism will not exist anymore.
Just pray for them is not enough.
We have to do more than that.
We should take them to America, let more people visit our Great Nation.
I believe that, even for the most radical anti-American terrorists, if they can have a chance to visit our country, to meet and make friends with our nice people, they will definitely fall in love with America right away.
They can feel the best way of life on the land of plenty, their hearts can get softened, and they will get hungry for Freedom.
Does that really work? Yes, it does.
Imagine, suppose you don't like cheeseburger, you hate it so much, you have no idea who the hell has invented such garbage and you want all the cheeseburgers in this world to vanish in the next second and it will never show up ever again.
But unfortunately, you suddenly go broke, you are so hungry, and you are somehow sent to a desert island that virtually nothing is edible.
At this hopeless moment, you discover a mountain of temptingly delicious cheeseburgers right in front of your eyes.
Thousands of cheeseburgers, that you swear you won't eat it again in your life.
But you know your situation.
You're starving.
You're dying.
Will you just ignore it? Will you just walk away and wait to die? No, absolutely not.
God gave you the life and you have no right to give it up.
I bet my bottom dollar you will rush to the burger mountain, gobble down every single cheeseburger like Joey Chestnut does on the Independence Day every year.
The desire is irresistible.
It is a Law of Nature.
When you come to America, you will love America.
It applies to you, it applies to me, it will surely apply to everybody.
And I suggest you go to the Ground Zero.
I have been to there once.
There were a lot of people going there every day, to mourn for the dead, to heal the living, to honor the heroes.
When you want to know more about the Founding of the United States, you go to Philadelphia.
When you want to know more about the Second World War, you go to the Pearl Harbor.
At the Ground Zero, you will get a deeper knowledge of 9/11 and its aftermath.
You will understand why we always say it "United We Stand.
Divided We Fall.
" You can actually feel how bravely our countrymen are fighting against terrorism and protecting our precious Freedom.
You can take the chance to walk around New York City and observe how the fearless New Yorkers recover from the catastrophe.
If you don't have time to go there, it doesn't really matter, you can learn the history and read the newspaper now on the Internet, but I recommend you to stop by when you have a chance.
Don't miss it.
Just bear in mind, Ground Zero is not a tourist spot, it's not just a hole in the ground.
It is a memorial to remind us the significance of Freedom and the value of Life.
So make sure you go there because you want to salute our freedom fighters.
That's why we have to forgive.
Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Forgiveness is the final form of love.
Before I finish today's discussion, I want to share a little story with you.
I've got someone asking me, "9/11 happened to us.
How come God didn't stop it? Does God really love America?" What do you think, my friends? In my opinion, this is a very stupid question, and I can give you a definite answer right now.
Maybe I should put it in this way: Your mother and father love you.
Your brothers and sisters love you, too.
Your kids love you as much as you love them.
You have a great family, you have a lot of friends.
But one day, you go out for a walk and you are hit by a car.
You get heavily injured and you are sent to the hospital.
In this case, does that mean all of them don't love you anymore? Does that mean your family and friends just pretend to like you and they actually hate you and they get someone to hit you? To question why God didn't stop 9/11 is just as silly as to ask why your parents don't kill the driver who has hit you.
It is not their fault.
It is not God's fault.
It is the fault of those who commit the crime.
God gave us free will, and those who don't believe in God commit the crime.
9/11 is not God's deed.
9/11 happened because someone abused their free will and do harm to the others.
If you want those criminals to correct themselves and not to hurt anyone anymore, let us pray to God now, invite them to love America, give them the power to believe in our Lord.
Now I'd like to invite you to recite the prayer below, which is a part of the mission statement of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center in New York City.
"May the lives remembered, the deeds recognized, and the spirit reawakened be eternal beacons, which reaffirm respect for life, strengthen our resolve to preserve freedom, and inspire an end to hatred, ignorance and intolerance.Good night, America.
"
May God bless you.
May God bless America.
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