I TERM
·· --/-· --- -/-·· · ·- -··/-·-- · - *
Stephen Moss
The Guardian, Wednesday 21 May 2008
Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/21/radio.military
One had assumed that Morse code's last hurrah (that's ···· ··- ·-· ... oh, life's just too short) had been
in about 1944. But one had assumed wrong. The writer Alan Sillitoe, who trained as a wireless
operator in the second world war, this week revealed that he still practises taking Morse every day,
listening to chatter across the airwaves, including a French station that broadcasts poetry in Morse.
So how much Morse, in iambic pentameters or otherwise, is out there? "Radio amateurs are still
using Morse code worldwide," says Carlos Eavis, amateur radio manager at the Radio Society of
Great Britain. "It's something that every radio amateur needs to learn." Eavis points to several
advantages Morse, which has been around since the 1840s, has over its modern rivals. There is no
language barrier - the dots and dashes are the Esperanto of the airwaves; you don't need an
expensive computer, so the four-fifths of the world that doesn't have internet access can still
communicate; the simplicity of the signal means it can be easily picked up, even when reception is
poor; and only the most rudimentary transmitter is needed to send messages.
Morse can't compete with computer-based systems in sending long messages - though tests have
proved it is faster than text messaging on mobile phones - and most military services have
abandoned it. But the SAS is still believed to teach Morse, in case its soldiers need to rig up a
simple transmitter in a remote location and send a distress call. It also comes in useful in prisons,
where prisoners can tap out messages to each other on pipes. "Morse will continue to be used," says
Eavis, "because of its simplicity. You don't need anything hi-tech - it will just work." Samuel
Morse's name will live on, which, says Eavis, is unfair on Alfred Vail, who actually invented the
code. Morse just financed it. Dash it!
*I'm not dead yet
Stay in touch through technology
Schools have enlisted the help of online report cards and text message alerts to keep parents
informed of their children's progress
Debbie Andalo, guardian.co.uk, Friday 22 August 2008 00.01 BST, Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/22/backtoschool.schools1
The days of the traditional school report - used by schools for generations to give parents an annual
assessment of their child's achievement - are numbered. Instead, today's parents are more likely to
log on to their child's school website to receive an up-to-the minute account of what has been
happening during the school day. It's also becoming common practice for parents to receive a text
message if their child has failed to turn up to school - within minutes of the morning register being
taken.
New technology is transforming the way that schools and parents communicate with each other.
Cardinal Wiseman Catholic technology college (CWCTC) in Birmingham estimates more than 30%
of parents regularly log on to to its ePortal to check their child's academic progress. That number is
set to increase significantly as it has just provided every pupil in years 7 to 10 with their own
personal laptop which will boost computer access, at home and in the classroom.
At Nottingham's Djanogly City Academy children have, for the past three years, had access to their
own online learning space or eportfolio which means they and their parents can access their school
work from anywhere in the world. The academy is also running a pilot project which allows parents
to add their own comments about their child's work online - creating an anytime dialogue with their
child's teachers. Sanjesh Sharman, the assistant principal at Djanogly, says: "Parents or pupils can
Google and, with a series of [mouse] clicks, open up their school work from any location in the
world."
Parents at Djanogly and CWCTC can also, by logging on to their own passwordprotected site on the
schools' websites, find out a range of information about their child - from whether there have been
any problems with behaviour during the school day to what homework is being set and if their child
is on target to meet their academic predictions.
'Nothing is hidden'
John McGowan, an assistant head at CWCTC who is in charge of the school's ePortal system, says:
"It's a real-time system which has changed the dynamics at school - pupils know that nothing is
being hidden from their parents now. The parents love it because they often feel left out about what
goes on in school and they don't find out what is happening with their child unless, or until, it's a
serious event. "
This allows parents to keep in touch and it means parents now come in much more informed at the
annual parent teacher evening which has improved the quality of the consultation."
Both schools are aware that not all parents have access to a computer or the internet, so they still
use more traditional methods of keeping parents informed.
The government is keen for all secondary schools in England to follow the example of CWCTC and
Djanogly and introduce real time electronic systems for keeping parents informed about their child's
school day and academic progress by 2010; the deadline for primary schools is two years later. It
also wants schools to adopt eportfolios as part of its national Harnessing Technology strategy.
But while the internet may be revolutionising parent's links with schools there are other non-
technological ways of keeping in touch. Joining a school's parent teacher association (PTA) is an
option which offers a variety of opportunities from accompanying children on school trips, helping
in the school library, or listening to young children read. New technology, however, has also
changed the way in which PTAs operate which allows more working parents to become involved.
Margaret Morrissey from the National Confederation of PTAs says: "Things have moved on.
Although there are meetings, maybe one a term or more if there is a big event coming up, we all
communicate with each other by email so if you can't get a babysitter or you're a working parent
you can still get involved."
Better marks
Parents' active involvement in their child's school may help satisfy their curiosity about what
happens in the classroom but does it have any other benefits such as raising a child's academic
achievement? Research published in July last year, and originally funded by the Department for
Education and Skills (DfES), suggests that it does. Researcher Alma Harris, professor of education
leadership at the Institute of Education in London who was involved in the DfES study, says:
"Parental engagement did bring significant improvements in achievement, but you have to make the
distinction between parental involvement and parental engagement."
She defines parental involvement as the traditional role adopted by parents through their PTA,
while engagement she says is about "supporting parents in their children's learning - that is what
makes the difference in academic achievement."
Online tools help parents stalk student
children
Facebook, webcams and even blogging now used to keep tabs on students by their parents, says
new government survey
Anthea Lipsett, guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 January 2009 10.36 GMT, Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jan/05/facebook-parents-students-university
Helicopter parents who hover over their children's lives long after they leave home are now turning
to social networking sites to keep in touch with their offspring and meddle in their university life
from afar, a new survey has found.
According to a government commissioned poll published today, three-quarters of parents believe
the latest technologies make it easier for them to keep in touch with their student children during
term time.
While it used to be impossible to get through on the one landline in student halls a decade ago, a
poll of 1,000 parents for the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills showed that 75% of
them believe text messaging, Facebook and Skype helps them communicate more easily with their
offspring.
Over half of parents (52%) rely on mobile phones to stay in touch and 35% use emails, while 44%
still use a landline telephone .
Nearly a quarter of parents (23%) use social networking sites and internet telephony (16%) as their
main way of contacting their children.
Of these, nearly two-thirds (64%) are "friends" with their children on Facebook — enabling them to
have regular contact and updates on their children's lives when they are away from home.
One in ten (10%) have set up a blog to communicate with their children and 12% are using
webcams.
The survey found that parents living in Worcester have embraced social networking the most, with
83% becoming "friends" with their student children in order to stay in touch, compared with only a
third (33%) of parents from Bristol.
Parents in Norwich are particularly interested in using new technology to contact their student
children – 92% use it regularly, compared with 85% of parents in both London and Sheffield.
Parents in Leicester and Oxford had higher than the average UK parent's use of text messaging,
internet phones, social networking sites and emails to keep in touch with their student children.
The higher education minister, David Lammy, said: "With record numbers of young people going
to university, more and more families are using new ways of communicating to stay connected with
their children whilst away from home.
"New technologies have made a big impact on all our lives and as students return from the
Christmas break, it's never been easier for mums and dads to stay in touch and updated on their
child's progress."
Primary school pupils learn
lessons in empathy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2010/nov/22/teaching-empathy-to-
schoolchildren
Children are being taught 'emotional literacy' through studying infant behaviour as part of a pilot
scheme launched for eight and nine-year-olds in Scotland.
Initiative to teach children empathy launches at New Stevenston primary school in Scotland.
Photograph: Barry Batchelor/PA
It is late morning at New Stevenston primary school in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, and in a
room off the main hall, 16 children sit in a circle watching a baby who has been set down in their
midst on a bright green blanket.
Chloe Quigley, aged 14 weeks, balances on her mother's knee and blinks at her audience. Over her
dress she wears a white T-shirt that reads 'Teacher'.
"What do you think she's thinking?" asks Mary Gordon, a Canadian educator and founder of Roots
of Empathy, a programme designed to foster emotional literacy in children. "Who are all these
people?" says a small boy in a brown jumper.
Over the course of the next half an hour, the children, all aged between eight and nine, will learn to
read Chloe's expressions and the noises she makes, identify her emotions and watch her interactions
with her mother. The session, designed to help children better understand their own feelings and the
feelings of others, is part of a year-long project launched in Scotland by the children's charity
Action for Children, North Lanarkshire council and the Scottish government. Chloe will return to
the school for eight more sessions in the coming year, and the children will be able to see how she
grows and develops and how her interactions with them and her mother change over time.
Roots of Empathy started in Toronto in 1996 and is now used by schools in the US, New Zealand
and now the UK – a similar programme was launched last week in Northern Ireland. Research
suggests that the programme has a significant impact in reducing levels of aggression among
children and making them more aware and responsive to the feelings of their peers and other
people.
The scheme has run in the Isle of Man for a number of years, and a study by the University of
British Columbia and King's College, London found that children who had undergone the sessions
with the infants displayed improved social and emotional competence and positive social
behaviours. It has also caught the attention of work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, who
has described it as a key means of reversing family breakdown.
Mary Gordon, who travelled to Scotland for the first UK mainland launch, said such early
intervention was crucial in helping children develop emotional resilience and intelligence.
"A school's function is to help children navigate the world but if we don't help them with their
social and emotional literacy we have only half developed them," she said. "The turnkey to a happy
and productive life is learning how to relate and we can do that. We teach from the attachment and
attitude of the mother and baby how we are the same and how we are different. It really changes
how the children see one another."
Scotland's community safety minister, Fergus Ewing, said the project had an "impressive record" of
reducing aggression and bullying among young people in the classroom, and the government would
be watching the pilot with great interest.
The North Lanarkshire programme will be run by Action for Children and the charity has recruited
local parents and their babies – aged between two and four months – to take part.
Paul Buntine, father of 16-week-old Zack, another of the 'tiny teachers' as the infants are called, said
taking part was a small commitment for a much greater good. "When they said it could help reduce
bullying and name-calling, it seemed like such a great idea," he said. "We wanted to get involved."
Citizen Kane voted best film of all time
Critics and directors agree over genius of Orson Welles
Gerard Seenan
The Guardian, Friday 9 August 2002 11.37 BST
Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/aug/09/filmnews.arts
In a rare example of film critics and directors in accord, Orson Welles's Citizen Kane has been
voted the best film of all time.
The 1941 masterpiece, part portrait of William Randolph Hearst, part autobiography, tops Sight &
Sound magazine's twin international polls of directors and critics that are run every 10 years.
It is no surprise that the film which pioneered wide-angle lenses, lighting, and design in Hollywood
should be so esteemed: Citizen Kane has topped the critics' poll for the past 40 years.
Some 144 critics, from Jonathan Ross to Camille Paglia, and 108 directors, from Bernardo
Bertolucci to John Waters, took part in the poll. Citizen Kane appeared on the vast majority of lists.
The director Michael Mann said it was "a watershed that perceives and expresses content in a grand
way, never done before".
Despite the near unanimous praise for Citizen Kane, there was some indication that taste is
individual: between them the directors and critics recommended more than 700 films, but, of these,
408 received only one mention.
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo came second in the critics' list and sixth in the directors - but the British
director's prolific output may have prevented him reaching a higher rating. Although Hitchcock and
Welles tied as the critics' favourite director, each receiving 69 mentions, votes for Hitchcock were
spread over a wide variety of his films.
Along with what to some will be obscure choices - Kurosawa's Rashomon, and Renoir's La Règle
du Jeu - there are modern box office hits. The first two parts of Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather
trilogy are in both polls.
Although the poll was collated by a British Film Institute magazine, not a single British film made it
into either top 10: Carole Reed's The Third Man (in which Orson Welles acts) was the best placed
British film at number 35 in the critics' list.
The most recent film was Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull, 1981, while the oldest was Eisenstein's
Battleship Potemkin, 1925.
The editor of Sight & Sound, Nick James, said he was not surprised Citizen Kane continued to
garner so much respect. "For the last 40 years Citizen Kane has topped the critics' poll confirming
Orson Welles, the director, as the Shakespeare of modern cinema," he said.
II TERM
So what exactly is multiculturalism?
Last Updated: Monday, 5 April, 2004, 11:57 GMT 12:57 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3600791.stm
Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality has called for multiculturalism to be scrapped.
But does anybody actually agree what multiculturalism means - and is it a good or bad thing? BBC News Online
asked a range of thinkers for a short definition.
PROFESSOR SIR BERNARD CRICK
Chair of the 'Life in the UK' report which led to the new citizenship tests
I see no incompatibility between multiculturalism and Britishness. Britishness
must be part of multiculturalism.
In the report I chaired advocating language and citizenship education for immigrants,
The New and the Old (2003), we said: "Who are we British? For a long time the UK
has been a multicultural state composed of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and
Wales, and also a multicultural society... made up of a diverse range of cultures and
identities, and one that emphasises the need for a continuous process of mutual
engagement and learning about each other with respect, understanding and tolerance."
In other words, dual identities have been common, even before large scale
immigration. We further wrote: "To be British means that we respect the laws, the parliamentary and democratic
political structures, traditional values of mutual tolerance, respect for equal rights..."
But Britishness does not mean a single culture. Integration is the co-existence of communities and unimpeded
movement between them, it is not assimilation. Britishness is a strong concept but not all embracing.
RUTH LEA
Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, a centre-right think tank
There are two ways in which people interpret multiculturalism.
The first one is the more common way and that is every culture has the right to
exist and there is no over-arching thread that holds them together.
That is the multiculturalism we think is so destructive because there's no thread
to hold society together. It is that multiculturalism that Trevor Phillips has
condemned and, of course, we are totally supportive.
There is another way to define multiculturalism which I would call diversity
where people have their own cultural beliefs and they happily coexist - but there is a common thread of Britishness or
whatever you want to call it to hold society together.
And that is clearly what I would support because you do accept that people have different cultures and you accept them.
It a positive acceptance not a negative tolerance.
LORD PAREKH, professor of political philosophy
Chair of the 2000 report, 'The Future of Multi-ethnic Britain'
Multiculturalism is sometimes taken to mean that different cultural
communities should live their own ways of life in a self-contained manner.
This is not its only meaning and in fact it has long been obsolete.
Multiculturalism basically means that no culture is perfect or represents the best
life and that it can therefore benefit from a critical dialogue with other cultures.
In this sense multiculturalism requires that all cultures should be open, self-
critical, and interactive in their relations with other each other.
This was the basic message of my report on multi-ethnic Britain (The Future of Multi Ethnic Britain, Runnymede Trust
2000). As we argued in the report, Britain is and should remain a vibrant and democratic multicultural society that must
combine respect for diversity with shared common values.
KAREN CHOUHAN
Chief Executive of The 1990 Trust, a black-led human rights organisation
Multiculturalism is not dead, in fact it has been reasserted by
government policy in the form of 'valuing diversity'.
Neither is it incompatible with an appreciation or knowledge of British cultures.
To suggest otherwise is to turn back the clock on race debates thirty years.
To understand multiculturalism is to appreciate that it means many different
things. To some it is merely sampling different cultures, such as a carnival or a
mela [South Asian festival]. To others, it is the road to challenging structural
inequalities.
One of Britain's strengths is its diversity. Our political system is founded on different values. White British culture itself
is incredibly diverse. But we cannot have cultural diversity without tackling inequalities. We need to do is move
forward with a serious debate about how far we have to go in tackling race discrimination in every corner of society, not
move it back by forcing everyone to be more (white) British.
Most minority ethnic communities have made substantial contributions to the making of Britain and have made huge
efforts to learn British history and language, and engage in civic society despite encountering social exclusion and
racism in practically every area of public policy and practice. Let's not lose sight of this, or how far we have to go.
Tackling racial disadvantage is the best way to engender a sense of belonging, being valued is a two-way street.
Interviews by Cindi John
Child abuse trial judge accused
of being drunk in court
Crown court judge Douglas Field freed alleged paedophile while apparently 'influenced by alcohol',
according to victim's mother
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 April 2011 09.37 BST
Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/apr/08/judge-douglas-field-accused-drunk-court
The legal watchdog is investigating a crown court judge after he was accused of being "influenced
by alcohol" during a trial in which an alleged paedophile was freed.
Judge Douglas Field, 63, is said to have attended a leaving party during an extended lunch break.
He then instructed his jury to acquit a 55-year-old defendant accused of raping an eight-year-old,
after they failed to reach a verdict at the end of the five-day hearing.
It is claimed, however, that Field forgot the man was facing a further two charges and dismissed the
jury before they were able to give their verdict.
The mother of the alleged victim lodged a complaint with the Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC).
In documents seen by the Sun, the complainant said in her opinion the judge's behaviour resembled
that "of a person influenced by alcohol" when he returned to court.
She also described how he sat at his bench with his "head in hands resting his elbows on the table"
following the leaving party.
The alleged incident occurred at Swindon crown court in June last year.
The defendant was accused of raping a girl under the age of 13 as well as two charges of inciting a
child to engage in sexual activity.
The Crown Prosecution Service sought a retrial last November on the two outstanding charges, but
jurors failed to reach a verdict and the defendant was formally cleared.
An OJC spokesman said: "A complaint has been received about His Honour Judge Field in relation
to a trial at Swindon crown court in June 2010. This is being investigated. It would be inappropriate
to comment further at this stage."
Field refused to comment on the allegations when the Sun approached him at his home in
Warminster.
Sexual exploitation of children: Derby and
Rochdale are tip of an iceberg
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2011/jan/17/sexual-exploitation-children-full-
horror?INTCMP=SRCH Anne Marie Carrie
Grooming is becoming more widespread and sophisticated throughout the UK. We must tackle the
full horror of this abhorrent abuse
The Guardian, Monday 17 January 2011
Child sexual exploitation is one of the most sickening crimes of our age, yet the scale is unknown
because, by its very nature, boys and girls frequently go missing in an underworld of systematic
abuse. Barnardo's has 22 projects across the country dedicated to finding and helping these young
people, and has been campaigning for years to bring the issue to the forefront of the government's
agenda.
The past weeks have seen a welcome shift in recognition of this problem, but the focus has been on
the ethnicity of abusers, based on two high-profile cases in particular parts of England. It's crucial to
recognise that just as the ethnicity of the perpetrators differs across the UK, so does that of the
children. We need to pull away from the growing stereotypes: it is not just Asian men who commit
this crime, nor are the victims only white – black and Asian girls are targeted too.
They are used like puppets by these abhorrent men and women – groomed and manipulated to a
point where they are brainwashed, raped and scarred for life. I have met some very brave girls and
boys who we are helping to overcome the tragic childhood that they will never get back.
One of them is Aaliyah. Her story isn't unusual. As 14 she began to become estranged from her
parents and started to go out a lot. She was introduced to men older than her, who would impress
her with their flash cars and gifts. Desperate for love and attention the affection they showed her
seemed very real, until it turned nasty. The unthinkable cruelty she suffered will never be forgotten
– Aaliyah was physically and mentally abused, with one so-called boyfriend pulling her out of his
car by her hair and threatening to cut her legs off with an axe before driving her to a hotel room, "to
have his friends come over and do what they wanted to me".
We worked with more than a thousand children and young people like Aaliyah last year, and we
believe that is likely to be the tip of the iceberg. Wherever we have looked for exploitation, we have
found it. We need to use the momentum of current debate to highlight what really matters:
protecting these vulnerable children.
It is 16 years since Barnardo's opened its first service dedicated to sexually exploited children in
Bradford. Today we release a report, Puppet on a String, that highlights three new issues: trafficking
around the UK is becoming more common; sexual exploitation is more organised and grooming
more sophisticated, with technology being used to find, isolate and control victims; and increasingly
younger children are being abused.
Emma's sexual exploitation began in a similar way to Aaliyah's. When, aged 14, she met a man in
his early 30s who showered her with gifts and attention, she fell in love, but soon her "boyfriend"
began abusing her and forcing her to sleep with different men. Her words are heartbreaking: "I just
hoped that one day one of the men would be a real boyfriend, that he'd like me for the real me and
that he'd want to save me. But it never happened."
If we are to truly learn from the lessons of the cases in Derby and Rochdale, the government must
recognise this as a child protection issue and appoint a dedicated children's minister to formulate a
national action plan to fully address the scale and horror of child sexual exploitation in the UK. This
issue must not be a flash in the pan – we need to use the leverage that the current media debate has
given us to ensure that this hidden issue is now very much out in the open and tackled at all levels.
Our "Cut them free" campaign hopes to turn around the lives of these young victims. We want
better training for professionals who work with children in order to improve early identification of
child sexual exploitation, including police, schools and social services. Statutory responses and the
provision of services for exploited children must also be improved. We need greater clarity about
the numbers of children abused in this way, so methods of gathering evidence and data kept on the
numbers of children being sexually exploited should be strengthened. And we absolutely must see
improvements in prosecution procedures in order to increase the number of cases that lead to a
conviction. We need to send a loud and clear message to perpetrators – we will find them and they
will be punished for the intolerable abuse they have inflicted upon so many young lives.
Doing Good, With Soft Hands
By HILARY HOWARD
Published: September 30, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/fashion/01Skin-2.html
WHEN the Body Shop, a cosmetics company known for its natural products
and its emphasis on ethical business practices, was sold in 2006 to the
international corporation L’Oréal, green consumers had their doubts. The
following year, when the company’s founder, Anita Roddick, a passionate
social activist, died, many were certain the company’s philanthropic spirit
would wither. But with its new campaign, “Stop Sex Trafficking of Children
and Young People,” highlighted last week at the Clinton Global Initiative in
New York, the company seems to be sticking to its humanitarian roots.
Kirsten Luce for The New York Times
ACTIVISM Sophie Gasperment says hand cream sales support an anti-sex-
trafficking campaign. “The Body Shop has always tackled uncomfortable, not
widely recognized issues,” said Sophie Gasperment, the chief executive of Body
Shop International for almost two years. “Before Anita died, the team had met
with her, and this was one of the issues she was passionate about,” she said. The
company has partnered with Ecpat International (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and
Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), a network with organizations in 75 countries.
“They’re very good at advocacy on the ground, and we can provide a global platform for them,”
said Ms. Gasperment, referring to the 2,500 Body Shop stores in 65 countries.
Besides publishing sex trafficking progress cards on various countries, the company is selling a $10
tube of Soft Hands Kind Heart hand cream, $6 of which is being donated to Ecpat. “We started the
campaign eight weeks ago and we’ve already sold 170,000 products,” Ms. Gasperment said.
She also had some words for those who think the Body Shop has become another cog in the
corporate machine. “The Body Shop stands for being a business that can be a force for change on
social-environmental issues,” she said. “L’Oréal made it very clear that it would put in place a
structure so that the brand would remain nurtured and true to its original ideas.”
Loss and Hope
Editorial http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/opinion/sunday/loss-and-hope.html?ref=global
Published: September 10, 2011
It is painful and puzzling to look back to that day, to the chasm after
the second tower fell, when we knew nothing except that fires were
burning, an untold number of lives had been lost, and Lower
Manhattan was gasping in a cloud of what looked like Pompeian
ash. That morning’s terrible events marked a border between one
realm and another, a boundary none of us would ever wish to have
crossed. Everything had changed — that was how it seemed.
We tried, almost immediately, to understand how the morning of 9/11 would change our future. A
decade later, we’re still trying to understand, looking back and looking ahead. It is not enough
simply to remember and grieve.
At first, there was only shock, grief and fear. But by the next evening there was something
surprising in the air. Do you remember? It was an enormous, heartfelt desire to be changed. People
wanted to be enlarged, to be called on to do more for country and community than ordinary life
usually requires, to make this senseless horror count for something. It was also a public desire, a
wish to be absorbed in some greater good, a reimagining of the possibilities in our national life.
There was courage and unity on the streets of the city and all across the country, for we were all
witnesses of that turning point.
But America has not been enlarged in the years that have passed. Based on false pretexts, we were
drawn into a misdirected war that has exacted enormous costs in lives and money. Our civic life is
tainted by a rise in xenophobia that betrays our best ideals. As we prepared for a war on terrorism,
we gave in to a weakening of the civil liberties that have been the foundation of our culture.
It seemed, in the days after 9/11, as though we stood at the juncture of many possible futures. There
was as much hope as grief, as much love as anger, and a powerful sense of resilience. We still stand
at the juncture of many possible futures. They are occasioned not by what terrorists in four airliners
did to us, but by what we have done in the decade since. As a nation, we have done a better job of
living with our fears, sadly, than nurturing the expansive spirit of community that arose in those
early days.
We are still learning about the events of 9/11, and in truth, 10 years is a short window to assess the
consequences of those attacks. Perhaps in time we will realize that the full meaning of what
happened on 9/11 resides in the surge of compassion and hope that accompanied the shock and
mourning of that September day.
A version of this editorial appeared in print on September 11, 2011, on page SR10 of the New York edition with the headline: Loss and Hope: As a
nation, we can work to retrieve the compassion that surged after 9/11.