All year, I'd been promising myself a visit to the World Trade Center. I'd been there often when I was Douglas County School Board President and Colorado's State Treasurer, promoting our creditworthiness and pushing our bonds. I just couldn't imagine lower Manhattan without those huge, overpowering towers.

Last weekend I finally got there, and found a still-shocking sight. The twenty-acre hole in the ground, sides rimmed with the remains of subway tunnels, parking garage, and shopping mall, is a cleaned-up reminder of what used to be. The surrounding buildings are still empty, their blown-out windows covered with boards or filled with newly installed glass.

Thousands of people, speaking many languages, were slowly circling the site, peering through the mesh fence at the remains of monumental destruction. Everyone was quiet; some were in tears. Others left flowers or notes. Messages of love and sorrow and the determination to remember cover flags and panels. Clearly, the wounds are still raw.

What struck me even more, though, is the rebuilding underway. While decisions on what should replace the seven destroyed buildings have not been made, the transportation and communications infrastructure is being reconstructed. It symbolizes America's ability to restore itself after a catastrophe. Fortunately, unlike Afghanistan, we have the resources to rebuild what has been cruelly shattered. But, we also have the will and the strength and the unity to start anew.

Perhaps an even more remarkable example of American resilience is the swarm of entrepreneurial activity surrounding the World Trade Center. Dozens of vendors sell everything from NYPD caps to World Trade Center photos to T-shirts and smoothies. Some may think it crass to capitalize like that on tragedy. Not I. I see it as America's spirit blooming where terrorists hoped to crush us. I see it as our message to those who want to destroy us that, in countless ways, large and small, we will continue to expand the American dream of freedom and opportunity.

At the same time, we cannot ignore the breeding grounds of the terrorism that continues to threaten our security, if not our way of life. Whenever there are a few who are rich and powerful and a multitude who are destitute and desperate, rage and frustration fester. Demagogues will find people with nothing to lose to lash out at those who have much to lose. You do not have to be mighty to inflict enormous harm on those you count as enemies. If we thought we could live in powerful isolation before, September 11, 2001 blew away that misconception.

A year ago, Americans overwhelmed New Yorkers with our generosity. We made promises to help rebuild a devastated Afghanistan. Giving to those in need, another great American tradition, helped us restore our own morale as well as damaged lives both near and far. It is this aspect of American society that the rest of the world needs to see more of, as the counter to our military and economic dominance.

Our power is out there for all to see. We will use it to fight terrorism. But, what the rest of the world yearns for is our underlying values--our freedom, our opportunity, our democracy, our fairness and our generous spirit. While we will continue to lead the battle against terror, we also need to lead the revolution of values that can transform societies. That means helping to build economies, improve education and health care, and end the mistreatment of women, children and political dissenters. It means helping to create the foundations for democracy in poor, repressed countries everywhere.

The energy surrounding the World Trade Center today proves that America will always come back. As we look forward to the new year, we can also prove that America's coming back is what the rest of the world should long for. Because, our coming back means they can hope for a better life, too. In our interconnected world, we want to be known and judged for how well we export our fundamental values rather than just how we exercise our power. That will be the best reminder of what America stands for. And it will show the world how we're recovering from such a cruel blow.