On a day like today, September 11, it sure is tough to do as Jesus said and did.  In the nine years since that fateful, tragic day, it seems like as a nation we fall further and further from the ideal that Jesus laid out for us.  In the days following 9/11, there was a beautiful sense of national unity and resolve that killing our people and destroying our buildings would not undermine who we are as our nation, our values, and our way of life. 

 In this intervening period we have seen a tragically unnecessary war conducted in Iraq and what is amounting to an endless military conflict in Afghanistan, a land where empires have entered paying enormous tolls in human life and treasure, seeking to tame what forever has been ungovernable region. We have seen torture performed in our name and endless incarceration without any process for determining guilt, let alone due process.