"Box-cutters, penknives, and cold anger are the weapons with which the wars of the new century will be waged. Anger is the lock pick. It slips through customs unnoticed. Doesn't show up in baggage checks."-Arundhati Roy

The unconscionable and soulless acts on September 11, 2001 where four U.S. planes were hijacked by terrorists and then crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania killing near 3,000 people in a matter of hours, blew a hold in our world and in the heart of every American. It was a taste of blood, humanity at its worst.

The human race was diminished on that day- we were all wounded and bleeding. The scars of that day must go through many healings in the generations to come. Bill Moyers spoke to this:" I never want to forget the man and woman holding hands as they jumped together to their death. I never want to forget those firemen who just kept going up; they just kept going up." How do you calibrate the grief? By what yardstick, what calculator do you use?

In Inferno, heads are raised to the exploding sky. Shards and debris rain death upon the innocent and unknown. Shards that cut families apart, create carnage. The dead of eighty nations lay in that carnage. And another war had begun in the name of justice. Will it ever stop? Each war runs into the next one. Same war, different name.

Terrorism has no country. It is a transient and global enterprise. For us, it is always a matter of response. Justice or Vengeance?

The terrorists did not target our land, our buildings, and our wealth. Their goal was to break our spirit and make us fear and hate like them. To possess our souls. We cannot let them rob us of our dignity or of our hope for a better world . We cannot allow them to rob us of our humanity. Let us close ranks, seek out new solutions for peace and strengthen.

Text By, Sandi Wicina, Curator of Arts
©2004. Art, War, and Peace Museum.