An analysis of the events can provide some explanation; but the public reaction to the events, and the way in which most Americans are behaving since then, paints an entirely different picture. On one hand, we can infer what the terrorists believe we stand for when we look at the targets they chose. The World Trade Center's destruction was more than the death of 6,000 of America's most productive and intelligent businessmen - it was the decimation of (as the building was fittingly named) the center of world trade; and, consequently, of the philosophy of capitalism, upon which world trade is based. Thus, it is obvious that the terrorists and third-world dictators see America as the embodiment of capitalism - as they should; and capitalism, being the target of their collective hatred, is what they sought to annihilate.

Looking at the past two-and-a-half centuries, this is what America's enemies have always hated. As proven by American history and the Constitution of the United States, capitalism is the only system of voluntary trade between free individuals which allows the exchange of value for value, to mutual benefit, upon which the creation and sustaining of life on Earth rests. Our old enemies - the communists - attacked capitalism as exploitation, claiming it prevented prosperity and destroyed freedom. 70 years of genocide, dictatorship and foreign debt by communist states has proven them wrong. To their credit, however, at least the communists saw prosperity and freedom as their supposed ideals.

Our new enemies not only damn capitalism, but trade and wealth as well. They are the intrinsicist, religious fanatics who regard man as a helpless toy at the mercy of an omnipotent superbeing whose existence must be accepted and revered on faith, with no rational or sensory basis for that belief. Religion insists that mankind has no free will and that the only purpose of his life is that which comes after his life. In rational, objective terms, this can only be his death.

You don't have to take my word for it - just listen to their spokesmen: "Americans are fighting so that they can live and enjoy the material things of life," declares one Taliban representative, "but we are fighting to die in the cause of our gawd." That sums it up rather blatantly, if you ask me. Another quote: "We are as eager to die as the Americans are eager to live." No argument there - and please, don't let me get in your way.

Thus, the terrorists attack capitalism, not because they disagree with it as the method by which to obtain prosperity and happiness, but precisely because it allows one to obtain prosperity and happiness. It is because the creation of wealth and the productive activity of man's mind are what lead to happiness on this Earth that the life-haters or Earth-haters attempt to destroy us. It is clear that America stands for life, if you look at our history and the achievements of our greatest men: we dedicate our lives not to gawd, but to advancing our careers and building our cities and our skyscrapers. Our government and political process revolves - not around control and coercion, as do the majority of governments in the world - but around individual rights and personal property. In the phrase "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," the last item is clearly the purpose of the first two.

It is clear that Americans are lovers of work, of activity, of life and of wealth. We are people who wish to produce and love to use our minds. We are thus appropriate objects of resentment for foreign religious radicals who regard life's purpose as suffering and sacrifice.

This is why the public reaction to the attacks on America disturbs me so much. I wince every time I hear someone praise the "sacrifice" of our police and firemen. This is not what they are doing! Sacrifice is the deliberate destruction of that which one values. Our heroic firefighters, policemen and soldiers are not sacrificing - they are doing their job, knowing that their freedom and their lives depend upon how well they do it. That is the American sense of life.

This is also why I cringe when I see the record droves of lemming-like crowds descend on Bulldog Stadium to witness an anti-secularist, pro-sacrifice religious spokesman preach the enemy's morality. I also understand all too well that I am in a minority here. I'm sure that I am one of the few people I know that did not go to the Graham crusade, and this is very disturbing. The attack on our country should have led individuals to think rationally, and care more about their lives and their freedom. Instead, more and more people are turning to mysticism and death - with every call for "prayer" or "gawd bless America".

As an American, I have become accustomed to expecting rational behavior from my fellow men. I have always assumed that most individuals are benevolent by nature and that they see life as something to enjoy, and the Earth as where they belong. I'm beginning to feel lonely as I realize that I may have been mistaken; for the American sense of life has always been my sense of life - happiness, wealth and productivity have always been my most rational and most passionately sought goals. My morality is the morality of life. What, then, is theirs?