Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

A Special Message to Our Friends:

It is our greatest hope that we find each of you, your friends, family and colleagues, healthy and strong. In the wake of the tragic events that have shaken our country, the National Parks Conservation Association will not issue action alerts this week. We face a time when the need for unity takes precedence over sources of division. Though everything remains somewhat surreal, the aftermath is both terrible and sobering.

Immediately after the terrorist attacks, national memorials across America were evacuated and closed because they stood out as potential targets for further assaults. Clearly, destruction of national monuments would mark a symbolic strike against the spirit of America. The monuments embody our history as a people seeking liberty. The nation has not always succeeded in sharing its freedoms equally, nor have all its actions been fair to all peoples. But monuments such as Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, and the homes of historic Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr., Franklin D. Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, Clara Barton, and John Adams represent our best impulses as we struggle to achieve a human and national ideal. The resolve that these people brought to the challenges of their times will bolster our own resolve during the challenges ahead, and the monuments to their memory offer us touchstones for that inspiration.

In the heart of the disaster stand many of those national treasures that help define us as a country - as an ever-evolving people. They may also help us learn from past mistakes and inspire us to continue to grow as a diverse nation. In Washington, D.C., within sight or close proximity to the Pentagon stands the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, President's Park (White House), Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the Washington Monument - collectively, the National Mall. In New York City we find the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and, particularly poignant, Federal Hall National Monument. Located at 26 Wall Street, Federal Hall was the site of the meeting place of the Stamp Act Congress, which assembled in October, 1765, to protest "taxation without representation." The First Congress met in the new Federal Hall and George Washington was sworn in here as President on April 30, 1789. The billowing ash of our destroyed buildings may obscure the physical view, but no act of terror will dismantle what Federal Hall National Monument stands for: America's determination to make the rule of law and justice prevail.

The national monuments were reopened the day after the attacks, a beginning of a return to something a bit closer to normalcy. Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton recently stated: "We encourage everyone to draw inspiration from our greatest national treasures, and let them serve as reminders that this nation will endure and prosper."

The national parks as a broader category can play a restorative role in the aftermath of the terrorist violence. The natural landscapes in our parks can bring us back to a steadfast world where life pulses on undaunted, where voices of rage are lost in distant places and the sighing of the wind. "I think I could turn and live with the animals," wrote Walt Whitman, "they are so placid and self contained." The parks offer us the placidity and calm of nature's world.

Our national parks and monuments -so important to us on so many levels- have earned the respect and value we give them and the protection we offer them. NPCA will continue to urge increasingly better protection of the parks, and we will revive the call for action next week. However, because we know you are action-oriented people, we want to provide you with information on various ways in which you can help bring the victims, families, and rescue workers through this disaster:

* New York Times Fund for Victims
* September 11th Fund
(The New York Community Trust and the United Way of NYC)
* International Association of Firefighters
* New York Fraternal Order of Police Fund
* National Organization of Victim Assistance
* American Red Cross

PARK SPEAK: Because so much of Katharine Lee Bates' "America the Beautiful" describes many (though not all) of our national park treasures, we thought the lyrics from the 1913 version would be both comforting and inspiring:

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern, impassioned stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law! O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife. Who more than self the country loved And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness And every gain divine! O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for halcyon skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the enameled plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee Till souls wax fair as earth and air And music-hearted sea! O beautiful for pilgrims feet, Whose stern impassioned stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness! America ! America! God shed his grace on thee Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought By pilgrim foot and knee! O beautiful for glory-tale Of liberating strife When once and twice, for man's avail Men lavished precious life! America! America! God shed his grace on thee Till selfish gain no longer stain The banner of the free! O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed his grace on thee Till nobler men keep once again Thy whiter jubilee!

On this National Day of Prayer and Remembrance - and in the difficult but unifying days that follow - our hearts, blessings and thoughts are with each and every one of you.

- The National Parks Conservation Association

National Park Lines is a publication of the National Parks Conservation Association's Park Action Network. To learn how you and your friends can become more involved in national park advocacy, contact our grassroots staff, send email to Take Action! and visit NPCA Action Alerts. Visit the NPCA web site to learn more about the association.