Our President has called upon us to be strong and resolute during these difficult times. We must answer that call with an unwavering purpose and an unyielding will. We must reclaim our lives and return to a kind of normalcy, although different and refocused.

We are Americans, a mosaic of people who differ in culture and belief, manner and style.

We are Americans, connected in a kindly, inextricable way, as we seek to manifest a peaceful destiny for all of civilization.

As a child during World War II, I tasted discrimination and it was bitter. I saw prejudice and it was ugly. Some people thought I was Japanese and treated me with disrespect. Hopefully, we will treat our residents and citizens of Middle Eastern origin as kindly as we did before. They settled in America for the same reasons my mother and father came, for a better life for themselves and their children.

When misplaced patriotic fervor obliterates moral distinctions, it destroys us from within. It is contrary to the President's imploration to be strong. It makes us weak and vulnerable. When Americans attack Americans, only the enemy rejoices.

We are witnesses to one of the most horrific crimes in the history of mankind. We have shared the pain of death and suffering. We have saluted the acts of courage heroism. Now we must affirm, solemnly and forcefully, who we are as a people and as a nation.

It occurs to me that in the weeks and months ahead we must do three things: