The devastating punch we took on September 11th still reverberates throughout American society.

The truth is, my dad was a great driver. I mean, he could handle an automobile. He loved speed. He used to joke that his one regret was he didn't join the volunteer fire service so he could drive the ambulance.

I was angry. I was kind of looking for a fight. I didn't want to talk to you guys in the press, because initially, understandably, all they wanted to talk to me about was, you know, what does it feel like?

It's amazing to me that no matter what city, what state, no matter where I am, a woman will come up to me and say "Thank you, thank you" for writing the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, which funds services for victims and pushes to put more assailants behind bars.

Here at home, when Americans were standing in long lines to give blood after the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we squandered an obvious opportunity to make service a noble cause again, and rekindle an American spirit of community.

President Vladimir Putin continues to call for new peace plans as his troops roll through the Ukrainian countryside and he absolutely ignores every agreement that his country has signed in the past and he has signed recently, we, the United States, and Europe as a whole, have to stand with Ukraine at this moment. Ukraine needs our financial assistance and support as it pursues reforms and even in the face, in the face of this military onslaught.

My dad always said, 'Champ, the measure of a man is not how often he is knocked down, but how quickly he gets up.'