This Fourth of July, the 226th year of American independence, is made unique by the echoes of Sept. 11. What occurred was horrible. In its unexpected, unjust quality, it might be the worst single thing that has happened to the nation. But America survived and can say to those who expect more attacks that we are a strong, resilient people and we will withstand whatever anyone can throw at us.
American history -- never boring -- has been sprinkled with dramatic Fourths of July. The betting must have been against the success of the enterprise launched on July 4, 1776, in the face of the British Empire, then at a peak in armed might and world power. On Sept. 15, 1776, Gen. George Washington actually had to abandon New York City to avoid having his army trapped on lower Manhattan Island, which could have made that site "ground zero" for American independence.
Another nation-threatening Fourth was in 1814, when the British were moving up to burn Washington. On the other side of the ledger, by July 4, 1863, the Civil War battle of Gettysburg of the preceding three days had set the seal on the eventual doom of slavery and secession, albeit at a cost of 7,058 dead and an estimated 44,000 wounded or missing Americans from the North and the South. There were hard and bloody Fourths in World Wars I and II, the Korean War and Vietnam. Fourths have been the best of times and the worst of times.
This one will be marked by Sept. 11. To look at Pittsburgh's Downtown at night with fireworks soaring over the skyscrapers has to remind us of the twin towers on Sept. 11, even though we will know quite well that the rockets will be fired tonight in honor of independence.
Although the flying of the flag once had special prominence on the Fourth of July, the display of the red, white and blue has become commonplace since Sept. 11. Still, the flags on display today will have special meaning. They will evoke in our minds pictures of brave firefighters and rescue workers at the heart of the World Trade Center and Pentagon infernos that September day -- a day unlike any other in the living memory of most of us.
Where are we now in terms of homeland defense -- of national security? It is sure that we are not asleep. There is no way to hermetically seal every avenue of attack, but it is certain that we are in a posture of greatly enhanced vigilance. It is annoying -- but also reassuring in a sense -- that our politicians have now arrived at the point where they are seeking to reap partisan political advantage from the homeland defense issue. They now debate the missteps of the CIA and FBI and government reorganization, all the while posturing for the 2002 and even the 2004 elections.
We can rejoice in our independence today, having survived a serious low blow and remained upright, confident and even defiant in the face of one more example of adversity.
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