United Nations International Day of Peace.

• Author: Annan, Kofi
• Position: Column

On 11 September, the United Nations International Day of Peace, a terrible calamity struck. Great structures have fallen. Our souls have been shaken. We are astonished by the evil in our midst; stunned at the scale of the tragedy; dazed by the disregard for human life; overwhelmed by the wound that has been inflicted--on this city, on this country, and on us all.

But we are also in awe at the nobility of the human spirit that this disaster has revealed; the extraordinary courage and self-sacrific shown by the firemen, the police, the health workers, and all the others who have given, or risked, their lives; the generosity and goodwill poured out by the entire community; and the solidarity expressed around the world by people of all nations and their Governments who--both individually and collectively, through unanimous condemnation in the...