OUR NAIVETE MADE IT EASY FOR ATTACKERS.

HOW could this happen? The nightmare came out of a clear blue sky. We wake up each morning hoping it will have all been a dream. But it refuses to end. It is now a part of our lives for the rest of our lives.

The images will never leave us. A plane flies into a building and seems to simply disappear. There is a pause, a brief moment when we think it must be an illusion, a trick.

But then there is the sudden ugly ball of bright yellow fire. The building bleeds black smoke until it collapses in agonizing billowing clouds of gray rubble.

People flee in terror up a canyon of looming skyscrapers until they finally stop, sobbing and holding onto each other, seeking the support of flesh where concrete and steel have failed them.

The television runs these images over and over again as if on an endless loop of horror. Those who broadcast it cannot believe it any more than those who watch, transfixed and horrified.

There will be many more images to come. This was mass murder on a mass scale. Thousands died in an instant in terror, in innocence and while seeking to help others.

There must have been countless acts of heroism and kindness in the face of impending doom and untold acts of penance and regret about which we will never know. We do not even know the names of most of the victims yet. But we will.

There will be the orphans and widows and widowers to comfort and as-yet-missing family and friends to mourn. The nightmare is far from over. Before it ends it will touch all of us in ways we cannot yet imagine.

How could this happen?

We were naive. We were careless. We underestimated our own vulnerability and the hatred of others for us. We were guilty of hubris and short- sightedness and too much trust. We will be guilty of all of those crimes again because they are part of the human condition.

Even our current nightmare, which seems to be of recent design, is merely a modern modification of ancient human inventions. If we humans were not such creative creatures, we would not be nearly so cruel to each other.

How could this happen?

This was the act of fools and cowards who made the easy choice of death for themselves and then had to steal the life from others to affirm their choice. But they have affirmed nothing. They never do.

There have always been people who believe they have nothing to lose and there have always been those eager to steal even the little such people possess. The thieves preach a crusade, but somehow nothing is ever achieved, nothing is ever built, nothing is ever created except grief and loss.

This was not an act of nation-building. This was not in defense of any religion or idea. The thief who conceived this act urged others to rush to their deaths - and yet the thief still lives, to steal again. And that is the true face of the thief.

The world will not be inherited by such people. We shall not allow it.

Such men will not dictate the terms of our lives. We shall not allow it.

We shall oppose them with our hearts and our minds and our muscle. We shall never accept death as a choice.

First, the wounded must be comforted and then the dead must be avenged. The thief and his allies must be found and punished. This is not justice, but it is just. And it is not enough to plead, as some quickly did, that they were not involved in this act.

This act was so monstrous, the whole world was involved in it. If you do not oppose the thief, then you are the thief's partner.

How did this happen?

It happened for reasons petty and great. It happened because religion was used to justify injustice. It happened because someone prayed to the wrong God on the wrong day or in the wrong way. It happened because someone's land was taken, someone didn't have a good enough job, someone felt cheated, someone felt insulted, someone felt small. It happened because it was allowed to happen.

It happened because preaching hatred of any part of humanity is a crime against all of humanity - you might have thought we ought to have learned that by now.