[applause] this is not mere nostalgia. it is the truest version of ourselves. it is what we have been and what we can be again. twenty years ago terrorists chose a random group of americans on a routine flight to be collateral damage in a spectacular act of terror. the 33 passengers and 7 crew of flight 93 could have been any group of citizens selected by fate. in a sense, they stood in for us all. the terrorists who discovered that a random group of americans is an exceptional group of people. facing an impossible circumstance, they comforted their loved ones by phone, braced each other for action and defeated the designs of evil.
nation stand in solidarity with all people and their fellow american, with those who experience violence and discrimination, when we stand together. and looking back, we remember the vast majority of americans were unified in purpose to help families heal, to help communities recover, to defend our nation and to keep us safe. in a time of outright terror we turned toward each other. in the face of a stranger, we saw a neighbor and a friend. that time reminded us the significance and the strength of our unity as americans.
these americans were brave, strong and united in ways that shocked the terrorists which should not surprise any of us. this is the nation we know. [applause] and whenever we need hope and inspiration, we can look to the skies and remember. god bless. [applause] dana: president george w. bush recounting for everybody what he went through that day, also talking about the america he knows. and that was the point of his speech with a lot of applause as the names continue to be read here in lower manhattan. bill: the line that stuck me struck me, rather, dana, was rally to the aid of each other,
must always have an honored place. here the intended targets became the infamous of rescue, and many who are now alive owe a vast, unconscious debt to the defiance displayed in the skies above this field. it would be a mistake to islize the experience idealize the experience of those terrible events. all that people could potentially see was the randomness of death. all that many could feel was suffering. all that many could hear was god s terrible silence. there are many who still struggle with the lonely pain that cuts deep within. in those fateful hours, we learned other lessons as well. we saw that americans were vulnerable but not fragile. that they possess a core of
neil. neil: eric, thank you very much, my friend, eric shawn at ground zero as it used to be called. and they still actually call it that, but it s a very different ground zero, and a refurbished and beautiful one. i want to take you to shanksville, the vice-president is making remarks at a ceremony ceremony. we had differences of upon in 2001 as we do in 2021. and, i believe, that in america our diversity is our strength. at the same time we saw after 9/11 how fear can be used to sow division in our nation. as sikh and muslim americans were targeted because of how they looked or how they worshipped, but we also saw what happens when so many americans in the spirit of our