Just as we are worse than we think we are, we are also better. This appeared in my mailbox the day after September 11:

"Dammit, I was hoping I didn't know anyone who got hurt. Two National Geographic people were on the plane that went into the Pentagon. Ann Judge (head of the internal travel bureau) and Joe Ferguson (head of the Education Foundation) were accompanying three children and their teachers who had won a contest and were on their way to the Channel Islands to meet oceanographer Sylvia Earle at the Sustainable Seas project. Joe called his wife and told her they had killed everyone in first class with plastic knives, then told the rest of the plane to get out their cell phones and tell their families they were dying. Knowing Ann, she was too busy taking care of everybody to make a call.

"A few hours after I heard Ann and Joe had died, Alexis from Lexus called to say my new convertible was ready. Paula and I weren't doing anything, so off we went. Lexus does everything thoroughly. It took me three hours to reject their offer on the Jag (know anyone who has too much time and money on their hands?), give them a check, and get my orientation to the car. Then I drove off. I thought I loved the Jag. I didn't know what love is. The sound system. The quiet ride. The power and handling. I could go on. I'm a total slut for this car. Did I mention how gorgeous and luxurious it is?

"So I drove through Century City at sunset, with a big grin and tears streaming down my face. It was that kind of day. Last night my Chow/Golden was harassing the Basset and fell into the pool. He was not pleased. It turns out Chowdens can swim, but they don't like to. And boy that long thick coat can soak up some water (I managed to grab him before he ran into the house to shake). I swear the Basset was laughing at him. Me too."

And then Jerry Falwell had this to say about 9-11-01:

"I really believe that the pagans, the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the A.C.L.U., People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say, "You helped this happen."

As always, the worst brings out more of the worst. No point in getting bogged down in such examples, which one can multiply endlessly. It’s too easy. Many religionists, politicians, artists, writers, philosophers throughout history have made highly successful careers on that, the worst side of humanity.

What of the other side, the side that becomes visible, often only in crisis and just as often to our surprise, when we show and learn that we are better than we think we are?

The people who boarded United Airlines Flight 93 knew nothing of the depth of goodness they were soon to display above a Pennsylvania forest.

The firefighters who kept going up the stairs of the World Trade Center while everyone else was going down were not thinking about their goodness. They were only doing what, in their view, had to be done.

Such examples, also, can be multiplied (though they are sometimes harder to find).

There's a larger point to be made here, less local, more global, involving all, all of us the people.

Several times in the twentieth century, America went to war. Yes, there was always self-interest involved, and yes, the political motives were often far from pure. But in some larger, mysterious sense, the presence of carefully maintained, locally revered American cemeteries AROUND THE WORLD speaks to the reality of a goodness which, however the problematic motives, transcends petty analytical wrangling.

Like those firefighters, America has tried—often imperfectly—to do what seemed necessary, no matter the danger.

Partly, America was able to do this again and again because it was blessed with the protection of two oceans, and with an unprecedented level of wealth that could support massive military action. In other words, no other country had the material wherewithal to rise to the occasion.

The world of September 11 is a different world. Now, on every continent some nations exist with some degree of wealth and stability, enough, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, that "we the people" no longer means "we the people of America."

"We the people" now means "we human beings." All of us. For the first time.

September 11 was yet another example of the worst in global humanity. But following September 11, we are for the first time going to see new levels, new kinds of the best in humanity. Not just the American portion of humanity, but all of us.

As with America’s best actions in the past, the motives will be mixed and far from pure. But for the first time, the effort and the intent to do the good thing, the right thing, no matter the risk, no matter the cost, becomes a shared, global burden.

No longer "We the people of the United States of America," but "We the people of Earth."

Throughout history, we have sprung terrible surprises of violence on ourselves. I think we’re about to spring one of our great, good surprises.

One of the hard-won truths of the 20^th century was summed up in Brecht’s famous line in the Three-penny Opera: "Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral"—"You have to have food before you can have morality." The end of that dreadful century did finally bring many nations of the world to an unprecedented level of prosperity.

Never before have so many had full stomachs. Never before have so many had the ineffable and oh so necessary luxury of thoughtful moral reflection.