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The INDEPENDENT, Septem ber 19, 2001
The
INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published twice
monthly, on the first and third Wednesdays of each month,
by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge Street, Ver
nonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper. Editors and Pub
lishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429-
9410, e-mail: noni@ vernonia.com
Opinion
September 11, 2001
September 11,2001, is a date we shall not soon for
get. In our shock, dismay, anger and sorrow we think
we will never forget. But we will; just as most of our
population is too young to to remember Pearl Harbor,
just as most of our population is too young to remem
ber World War II and Hitler’s “Final Solution,” just as
nearly all of our population is way, way too young to re
member the Great Depression and World War I.
Ah, you say, they were not the same, and they
weren’t. But mankind has a marvelous capacity to
process emotionally devastating occurrences.
Because of our shock, anger and dismay, we are
willing to work together at this time. But we must be
very aware of our desire (need?) to blame someone,
seek vengeance for our pain.
Our enemies are cowardly terrorists who are
ashamed to show their faces to the world, so we must
be very careful that we don’t seek vengeance on sub
stitutes just because they are Muslims, or Arabs or,
somehow, “others.”
America remains a beacon of hope for people
throughout the world. People who are seeking freedom
of opportunity, freedom from oppression, freedom of
religion, economic and educational opportunity. We
have generously shared our skills and our wealth, and
that generosity is sometimes returned with hatred. So
be it. Those freedoms and opportunities have, never
theless, defined our nation.
In our differences lies our strength. We can complain
about our government, our bosses, our schools, our
society. We air our dirty linen in public. We are arrogant
and we are generous. We sell armaments and promote
peace. We are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists,
Hindus, atheists and everything else.
We aren’t the Great Satan and we sure aren’t saints.
We put our own citizens in internment camps because
they were Japanese. We used troops against students
at Kent State because the demonstrated against U.S.
action in Vietnam. Yes, we have demonstrated zealous
excess and, hopefully, we have learned how stupid and
harmful it is.
These cowards will not succeed because they can
not understand that our strength lies not in imposed
uniformity of thought and action, but in individual free
dom. The only way they can win, is if we become like
them.
A message from Denmark..............................
Editor's note: Last week, Paul Nussle, of Sumner,
Wash., a friend and relative of The Independent pub
lishers, sent an e-mail to Johannes Vaerge, pastor of
the Cathedral in Copenhagen, Denmark, asking for
his country’s reaction to the terrorist attacks in the
United States. Vaerge is a friend and relative of Nus
sle and his wife, Agnes. The following is his re
sponse:
Dear Paul,
Tuesday morning American time was after
noon here. When I heard/saw the terrible news,
around 18.30 (6:30 p.m. U.S. time), after a meet
ing here finished, I realized we had to open the
church and invite for prayer and silence. I called
a few people from the staff who could come, and
I had the opening of the church announced by
national radio and tv. Two other Copenhagen
churches did something similar. We had can
dles, I conducted prayers, the organ was playing
some of the time.
While still in the church, shortly before 22 h
(10:00 p.m.), I was contacted by the bishop, who
was at a meeting on Fyn (a Danish island
province) and had been asked by the prime min
ister’s office if we would be able to arrange an of
ficial service the next day at 19 h (7:00 p.m.). We
agreed to try, and the bishop asked me to take
care of everything “backstage" and to assist him
in composing the service. I was then called by a
governm ent official, and m eetings were
arranged for early Wednesday morning. It was
already at that point clear that the queen would
participate - along with the cabinet etc.
In the morning I took my bike and went to a
meeting with the protocol chief and his staff and
a top national police official at the ministry of for-
eign affairs; from there I went, with the same
people, to the chief of the prime m inister’s office
to find out who should be invited, where they
should be in the church etc., etc. The police offi
cial was not happy that we wanted to let people,
as such in, too, but we agreed to give room for
350 “ordinary people” (to be examined by the po
lice at the entrance) - along with the members of
the cabinet and their spouses, the top officials of
the various branches of the state, all the staff of
the American embassy, representatives from all
other embassies, and the majority of Danish par
liament members. I was impressed how effi
ciently the government people worked, and how
well the staff of the church took part.
During the afternoon the two big TV channels
decided to transmit the service live and in exten-
so and, again, my role was to be the contact per
son - in between my talks with the bishop. It be
came an im pressive national m anifestation.
Practically all top persons of official Denmark
found it worth putting other duties or arrange
ments aside to participate.
The American am bassador made a short
speech at the end of the service, a speech of
thanks for the caring he felt from the Danish peo
ple, i.e., the thousands who spontaneously had
come to place flowers, candles and other greet
ings in front of the American embassy.
Yes, we care...I was invited to be in the radio
studio of one of the most popular channels the
next morning for a program where listeners
could call and express their reactions to the ter
ror tragedies - and talk to me. So I have been
rather much involved.
Please see page 3