A year later, no one can argue that the consequences of September 11, 2001, will be enduring. The horror and outcome of such destruction affected us all, even here in Armenia -- half a world away from the physical damage brought upon Washington and New York. Armenians live with memories of mass destruction. And this was man's inhumanity to man, made vivid, stark, clear, unforgettable. This was also the confirmation we didn't need that ever-increasing technological and physical prowess has immeasurably raised man's capacity for destruction.

We must hope therefore that September 11 also becomes a transformational event and increases man's capacity for understanding and cooperation. We all live with the hope that indeed man will transcend the contemptible temptation to utilize violence as a means of securing a political end. 

With a renewed appreciation for the civilizational values for which the US stands and which much of the rest of the world aspires to, our society must look for ways to instill hope and opportunity for a life of freedom and dignity among the good, even while combating the evil.

But September 11 demonstrated that those who do not have the freedom, privilege, opportunity or understanding of these values will indeed try to deprive the rest of us of those rights, as well. September 11 destroyed our assumptions about freedom, security, invulnerability. Our challenge is to use this opportunity to indeed assert that our other assumptions – about man's inherent goodness, about nations' immutable interrelatedness – that those assumptions have not been destroyed, that they still guide our lives as individuals, and our policies as societies. 

Winston Churchill said that battles are the principal milestones in secular history. Great battles, won or lost, change the entire course of events, create new standards of values, new moods, new atmospheres.

The battle that began on September 11 was brought about by individuals. In its aftermath, it was individuals again – leaders, public servants, simple citizens -- who used their energies, good will, and faith in themselves and in mankind to deal with the deaths and go on with life. 

The new world that has been created as a result of September 11 requires that human beings apply their own personal standards and values to the collective life of the societies in which we live. Just as its horrors were unavoidably shared, the lessons of September 11 must be shared, too.

The US welcomed the input and participation of all countries in this new struggle. An always vulnerable Armenia joined with a newly-vulnerable United States to state unequivocally that the good in mankind will triumph, that together we will establish just societies for human beings to live in with freedom and dignity.