For those who came from Smoke & Mirrors, the blog pointed to an old unused page I had forgotten was online; the Mitch Albom excerpt the blog referenced is below. For current content, visit my blog at http://mindreader.burrillstrong.com or my photo site at http://photo.burrillstrong.com.

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A message to Osama bin Laden on the one-year anniversary of his terror:

You failed.

If you are dead, you failed, because you are not in some blessed place, sitting under the Yum Yum tree. You are in a corner of hell reserved for murderers.

And if you live on, you failed, too. Because you are hidden in some cave in a forsaken corner of the world, forced to recognize the truth: What you sought to weaken, you fortified. What you sought to terrorize, you emboldened.

How does it feel, to have so woefully miscalculated? We are smarter, stronger, more aware and more involved. We treat our neighbors with more patience and our country with more love.

If you sought to destroy our spirit, you failed.

If you sought to destroy our will, you failed.

And if you sought to destroy our institutions, you failed, big time, even on the very day you had the advantage. One of the four planes you stole last Sept. 11 did not even make its mark. It was retaken by passengers who proved there is no need to fear you or your cowardly henchmen. With two words, "Let's roll," that plane was driven into the ground, and instead of taking down a monument, it became one. Its Pennsylvania crash site is an inspirational place.

For us, not for you.

You gave us something to feel good about.

How does it feel?

You failed.
Mitch Albom
The Detroit Free Press
11 September 2002
Read the full text of Mitch's column at
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/mitch11_20020911.htm