September 11th

One of the legacies of September 11, 2001 was how many lives terror touched that day. It's hard to image any American who was not affected in many ways by the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon as well as Flight 93. Some families lost loved ones. Many more knew someone who died. All Americans' lives changed that day.

There will be myriad remembrances this September 11th. For me, my memories of September 11, 2001 will always be combined with another terror attack that had a very personal impact on my family: The destruction of Pam Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 12, 1988.

My uncle, Peter Raymond Peirce, was murdered on that flight.

We was coming home for Christmas.

He had been studying in Florence Italy through a program at Syracuse University. Studying the great architecture of that renaissance city. Furthering his training in his new career as an architect.

On that day in 1988, 270 innocent souls perished at the hands of brutal terrorists.

A year ago today, over 3000 more innocent souls were also murdered.

Many died aboard airliners like my uncle. Others on the ground. None expected to die when they got up that morning. None deserved to.

What is clear to me is that we, America, must put a stop to this.

The evil dictators who plan and support these acts of terror must be wiped away. Their subjects deserve better. The world deserves better. Member of groups like al Qaeda must not have sanctuary. There must be no place for them to run and hide.

I hope and pray that our President, Congress, and the American people have the will to prosecute the war on terror to it's just end. As finally as World War II was ended with real and fundamental change brought to the Axis powers, we need to change the world again. We need to end the regimes who are at war with us and bring their citizens back into the fold of the civilized. We need to leave no safe harbor for those who would blow airliners filled with innocent travelers out of the sky.

Some day I will take my son, Peter, to visit Lockerbie Scotland to visit the memorial of his namesake. I pray that we will be able to look back at the events of December 12, 1988 and September 11, 2001 and be able to remember how these terrible events woke us up and cleared the fog from our eyes.

And that we rose to the challenge.

God bless America

Michael Peirce, September 11, 2002