We have gathered today to pay homage to those whose lives were lost on that terrible day one year ago. We mourn their loss and extend our sympathy to the families of those who perished. We take comfort and sustenance from the extraordinary heroism and ennobling generosity of that day and the weeks and months that followed.

That day changed us and our world, compelling us most painfully and agonizingly to realize that evil is real and pervasive. But there is something far more important that we can also learn. And that is that good too is real and pervasive.

Out of that unfathomable tragedy, we have seen time and again that love conquers hate, generosity warms the cold-hearted, courage transforms cowardice, hope triumphs over despair, good overwhelms evil, and joy supplants sorrow.

For many of us, the past year has been a time of self-reflection. We have taken a hard look at our own lives and re-considered what is ephemeral and what has lasting value. With urgency and poignancy, we have asked ourselves the fundamental questions a liberal arts education is designed to ask: the probing questions of meaning and purpose that are the raison d’etre of a Queens College education. That self-reflection makes most apparent the utility as well as the intrinsic value of the liberal arts in today’s world.

We are a community of learners. The common quest to seek knowledge and understanding has brought us together. Each of us, through our questioning, is adding to the mosaic that moves us closer to the truth.

The great contemporary philosopher and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel has said, “Questions unite, and answers divide...” A legacy of the tragedy of 9/11 must be that we see ourselves - whatever our backgrounds and our core beliefs -- as questioners, as seekers, discoverers, and voyagers taking many paths to a common destination. Each of us must possess sufficient intellectual honesty and humility to recognize that we cannot gain a corner on the truth. No matter how brilliant or enlightened anyone of us may be, we merely see through a glass darkly.

Of all institutions of higher education we at Queens College are most fortunate in that we have on our campus such a rich mix of cultures, nationalities, religions and ethnic groups. We truly are an international community. We bring to our quest for truth a range of perspectives and experiences allowing us readily to go beyond the parochial and the conventional and to get to the real work of gaining mutual appreciation and deep understanding.

Over the years, Queens College’s strengths have been its diversity, its commitment to access, and its tradition of excellence. But there is an additional quality that has made Queens unique. From its founding, service to others -- one’s family, one’s neighborhood, one’s country, and the entire human race – has been recognized as the cardinal reason for learning. Hence, the College’s motto: “We learn in order that we may serve.”

What better way to honor those of our community who lost their lives a year ago today than to reaffirm our commitment to take what we are learning and have learned and to put it to use in the service of others? Calling upon the “better angels of our nature,” let us, “with malice toward none and with charity for all,” commit ourselves to the urgent tasks of forming relationships and building communities that celebrate our common humanity and serve to exalt the human spirit.