Since the towers fell, there has been time to reflect

Two years have passed since the fall of the World Trade Center's twin towers.
In many ways, it seems a lifetime ago. But seeing rebroadcasts this week of the collapsing towers brought the horror back as if it were yesterday.
But those two years have provided time for Americans to reflect on where we've been and where we're going.
Maintaining a balance between individual freedoms and group security has never been easy. But in the wake of the horror of Sept. 11, 2001, and with the stark realization that additional acts of terrorism on U.S. soil were almost inevitable, there was a mighty temptation to error on the side of security. No one wants to feel afraid while going about the business of daily life, and it is easy to trade the other fellow's freedom for your security.
But we are reminded of the words of Ben Franklin: "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security."
Reasons for concern
And so on this anniversary date we should be concerned about the implications of the Patriot Act passed in the wake of 9/11. And about the expansions of that act that are being drafted by the Justice Department. We should be troubled that hundreds of people were rounded up in secret two years ago and held in secret. We should be alarmed that a new and nebulous phrase, enemy combatant, has been coined that the government has used to hold indefinitely a person -- even a U.S. citizen -- without specific criminal charges and without access to legal counsel. We should think how we will feel a year from now if we are denied a boarding pass when we go to the airport because a new system being developed by the Transportation Security Agency determines that we are a risk. CAPPS II, for Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-screening System II, will rate every passenger based on a computer profile and about 10 percent are expected to fall into the risk categories of yellow and red, which will get them special attention at the airport and may even keep them from flying.
Preserving a legacy
More than 3,000 people died at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Somerset, Pa., two years ago. But over the centuries, tens of thousands of soldiers have died to protect our freedoms and the American way of life. The legacy of those soldiers should not be trumped by fears engendered by the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
We were a free and open society on Sept. 10, 2001. In some ways we have faltered in our commitment to freedom in the days since. But it is time now to ask if we intend to allow terrorists to dictate whether this will remain the free nation our Founding Fathers envisioned when they wrote the Bill of Rights. Those 10 amendments define our freedom of speech, press and assembly, our right to be secure in our homes from unnecessary government intrusion, our right to fair and open trials, the right to confront our accuser and the right to due process of law.
Will we allow those rights to be added to the casualty list of Sept. 11? Our answer should be a resounding No.