This is very much the situation today. It's not similar; it's comparable. We have comparable difficulties -- not the same difficulties, but our difficulties today are to figure out this strange world, which is neither peace nor war. The United States sustained a terrific attack on 9/11, which was not like a war. It was a crime, of course, a terrible crime. But it felt also a bit like a war. We have been asked to respond to it as if it were a war, but there is no clear indication of exactly who is the enemy, or where he or she is to be found. And we are asked to respond to this situation in new ways. We are being asked to change, in some ways. On the other hand, we are being asked to accept things and not change them. It seems to me the question of what we're going to accept -- we as a collective, we Americans, or we New Yorkers, or we people of Massachusetts, or whatever it may be -- what we are being asked to change or to accept should be asked anew every single day, just the way Alcoholics Anonymous people ask it anew every single day individually.
The Serenity prayer has become so famous because of its association with Alcoholics Anonymous as a personal prayer, spoken in the first person singular.
This is very much the situation today. It's not similar; it's comparable. We have comparable difficulties -- not the same difficulties, but our difficulties today are to figure out this strange world, which is neither peace nor war. The United States sustained a terrific attack on 9/11, which was not like a war. It was a crime, of course, a terrible crime. But it felt also a bit like a war. We have been asked to respond to it as if it were a war, but there is no clear indication of exactly who is the enemy, or where he or she is to be found. And we are asked to respond to this situation in new ways. We are being asked to change, in some ways. On the other hand, we are being asked to accept things and not change them. It seems to me the question of what we're going to accept -- we as a collective, we Americans, or we New Yorkers, or we people of Massachusetts, or whatever it may be -- what we are being asked to change or to accept should be asked anew every single day, just the way Alcoholics Anonymous people ask it anew every single day individually.
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