A defining moment in history

We are simply going to make war on terrorists. And we will be no more successful this time - especially in view of the weapons available, including biological and chemical agents. What will work? A US approach that is less biased toward our Israeli friends, and more objective reporting from the press. With the world's attention on the US, Israeli leader Ariel Sharon sent tanks into Palestinian-controlled territory. On Friday, he ordered his foreign minister to boycott a meeting with PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Those reports were buried in the back pages.

Peace won't come by military means. Mr. Sharon should know that. The biblical concept of shalom means nothing other than the experience of justice. No justice, no peace.

Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst from 1964 to 1990.

Plantation, Fla.

Before Sept. 11, joggers around my block were exchanging only looks of tentative acknowledgment. Today, those looks are purposeful smiles, affirming the commonality of being American. Thus, I was only mildly disappointed, and deeply stirred, after searching the local malls for a flag. Hundreds of residents had bought them all.

There are testaments to this American appeal everywhere. Today, for example, I watched my brother-in-law's teenage niece, here on an extended visit from her native Venezuela. She has seen to it that this household not remain flagless. With poster paper and markers in hand, she is crafting an American beauty.

Tal Abbady is a freelance writer.

TOKYO

I have only known New York with its twin towers, the first built in 1970, the year I was born.

The gleaming towers were New York incarnate. Growing up on Long Island, I thought of them as pillars holding up the city's skyline. Any trip up to the observation deck of the towers was a treat. At the top, my stomach turned and my shins tingled. Several times a year, our parents loaded the three of us into the car to head for "the city." The skyline was a stunning welcome mat.

Perhaps because my father is a civil engineer whose expertise is reinforced concrete, we had an extra appreciation that there was something truly special, something civilized, about man's ability to raise windows and desks and people into the sky.

When I grew up, I moved into the city and was surprised at how disoriented I often found myself in New York's web of streets. But looking up, I could sometimes see the massive columns of the World Trade Center and orient myself.

Perhaps the most memorable moment I had in the World Trade Center itself was the day I took my friend Jeff, born and raised in rural Missouri, on his first official tour of New York. The big trip was in honor of his visiting sister.

As we walked into Tower 1, its lobby decked in a somewhat glitzy marble that shouted New York prestige, Tammy gushed quite innocently.

"This is fan-CEE!" she said.

Jeff and I smiled at each other. I took a certain pride in showing them my city, our city, for the first time. If they were from America's heartland, this was another heart of America, the place that made sure we kept ticking.

Now I feel so far away. I feel, like New York itself, that we Americans have lost our compass.

Ilene Prusher is the Monitor's Tokyo correspondent.

St. Andrews, Scotland

Great events are common, but defining moments rare. The first atomic blast at Alamogordo, N.M., was a defining moment: The atom was shattered, and so was the world. In came the atomic age, a cold war punctuated with plutonium. That age ended with the toppling of the Berlin Wall. It was, we were told, the end of history, the end of conflict, the triumph of liberalism.

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