Read the passage from President George W. Bush’s address to a joint session of Congress in 2001. Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated. . . .

. . . We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.

–George W. Bush,
September 20, 2001

Bush’s words led to the

development of ARPANET.
founding of the European Union.
passage of the Patriot Act.
founding of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Require the nobles and clergy to pay taxes.

The u.s. got world power

It me to understand the world and my place in it. for example, (and i know i’m using the terminology ‘historical perspective’ loosely here; some of my examples may be better termed an ‘evolutionary perspective’) knowing that all humans can trace their ancestry back to a common ancestor who lived in southern ethiopia ~200,000 years ago makes me feel connected to everyone on the planet. knowing that some of our ancestors left africa about 70,000 years ago and interbred with more archaic hominin species in europe and elsewhere, me to see the stupidity of white supremacist ‘purity of the race’ themes. seeing how religion was used to enslave people, and how callously lives were thrown away by those in power in the world wars of the past century makes me feel extremely fortunate to be living in the modern era. and, perhaps most importantly is that this knowledge makes me for the sacrifices our ancestors made to get us to this point, and determined to do my part to make the world a better place for the next generation.