For what purpose?

I watched the coverage of 9/11 last night, the video that started as two brothers creating a documentary about a rookie firefighter and ended up being firsthand footage of the 9/11 attacks. It brought me to tears, even 5 years later. The amount of lives lost or affected in some way is overwhelming, and for what purpose? What did the attacks accomplish, other than making most Americans really sad or angry? The terrorists were trying to prove a point, but I think we proved an even stronger one - it strengthened our resolve not to let other countries push us around, it united us as a nation, it made us recognize what really matters if even for a few days or weeks or months surrounding the attacks. Not to minimize the magnitude and significance of the lives lost, but the terrorists sort of remind me of the Grinch. They thought they could take away our faith, our courage, our strength as a country by killing a ton of people, and they were wrong. I only hope they will someday learn that life's too short to live it hating and killing.

By the way, this is not a commentary about the U.S.'s actions as a result of the attacks - I'm still not sure how I feel about that whole issue ...