By the Rev. Scott M. Keshner, University Chaplain
This past week we remembered, as a country, the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. To mark that memorial, the Susquehanna (SU) College Republicans put 2,996 small United States flags in the grass outside Degenstein Campus Center to represent each of the victims of the attacks.
Part of what I found moving about those flags is that they represent that incredible diversity of what America is, and what America stand for when we are at our best.
The display called to mind, for me, the motto of our country, “E Pluribus Unum”-“Out of Many, One”.
Though the flags appear uniform, each one represents a unique human life. This means they represent the wonderful diversity of America, the “many” from which we become “one”.
The victims of 9/11 included every race, religion and gender identity of our country. In addition, they represent 372 foreign nationals. This does not count the 19 perpetrators, representing 61 countries: the flags represent them too.
Each of those flags is a human story, and each story is woven into the larger tapestry of what out country represents. As we remember victims of 9/11, we are honoring the amazing diversity and unity of the United States. I am thankful to the SU College Republicans for reminding us all of that.
The question of what defines “American” or “Americans” is currently a matter of urgent debate. There are some who wish to define what America is along racial, ethnic, or religious lines. Such attempts are not true to the America represented by those flags, and certainly not of our highest and best ideals as a nation.
As former President Barack Obama spoke to this very issue recently in a post on Facebook: “What makes us American is not a question of what we look like, or where our names come from, or the way we pray. What makes us American is our fidelity to a set of ideals – that all of us are created equal; that all of us deserve the chance to make of our lives what we will; that all of us share an obligation to stand up, speak out, and secure our most cherished values for the next generation. That’s how America has traveled this far. That’s how, if we keep at it, we will ultimately reach that more perfect union.”
I couldn’t agree more.