Letter of the Day: Honor America, and 9/11 victims, by building mosque

Shimmering buildings brought down by two planes. Plumes of smoke. A panicky nation. These are realities we are still struggling to understand; they have hurt, but not ruined, the American imagination. We still are unable to write the history of 9/11, and if the ways of history writing are true to form, we won't be able to understand for some time. We don't have sufficient distance, nor perspective. Feelings are trumping analysis. I appreciated George W. Bush's calm and steady perspective on the event. It may well have been the best moment of his presidency. Our understandable distress over the horror is now playing out in the mosque debate. Does an Islamic Center two blocks away from ground zero dishonor the many dead? It honors America, as well as the victims. It proclaims to the world that our country lives by its principles, does not seek revenge, and embraces all. MICHAEL ALLEN MIKOLAJCZAK, MINNEAPOLIS