Collierville Town Square
September 16, 2001
Thank you, Mayor Kerley, for making this ceremony possible in this special Town; this beautiful place.
We mourn the tragic loss of life witnessed in Washington, Pennsylvania and New York. Our hearts go out to the thousands of victims, the dead and the living, and our thoughts and prayers are with them.
Sadly, it seems every generation has its end of innocence. This is the end of innocence for this generation; the end of innocence for this century.
But it is not the end of our faith, our belief in God, or the strength derived from His divine inspiration. If anyone doubts this, let them come to Collierville!
Here, on this Square, at the foot of this flag, a new day brings new resolve to cherish our heritage, to marvel at the magic of small town America, and the power of so many small towns which make America, to defend freedom as one Great Nation.
Let them come to Collierville to visit our veterans and see us send their grandchildren to search, rescue and recover.
And when we send reserves to keep the commitment of our Fathers, this square, like so many others across America, will be a source of strength, symbolic of all that is good, where evil has no home.
Even as cowardly acts of terrorism, or war, threaten to reduce us as a Great Nation, we are mindful that our greatness lies not in tall buildings or behind the edifice of government. It lies in Towns like Collierville. Within the bosom of her people who are the products of the freedom for which we, as a nation, have long toiled, in peace and at war, to preserve and safeguard freedom’s future.
In this, we, as a nation and as a free people, shall prevail.
