Danustouch
October 10th, 2001, 11:19 AM
Subject: Editorial from a Romanian Newspaper
> An ode to America
> Why are Americans so united? They don't resemble one
> another even if
> you paint them! They speak all the languages of the world and form
> an astonishing mixture of civilizations. Some of them are nearly
> extinct, others are incompatible with one another, and in matters of
> religious beliefs, not even God can count how many they are. Still, the
> American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on
> the heart. Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, the secret
> services that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty
> their bank accounts. Nobody rushed on the streets nearby to gape about.
> The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand.
> After the first moments of panic, they raised the flag on the smoking
> ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colors of the national
> flag. They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and
> on every car a minister or the president was passing. On every occasion
> they started singing their traditional song: "God Bless America!".
> Silent as a rock, I watched the charity concert
> broadcast on
> Saturday once, twice, three times, on different TV
> channels. There were Clint Eastwood, Willie Nelson, Robert de Niro,
> Julia Roberts,
> Cassius Clay, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen,
> Silvester Stalone, James Wood, and many others whom no film or producers
> could ever bring together. The American's solidarity spirit turned them
> into a choir. Actually, choir is not the word. What
> you could hear was the heavy artillery of the American soul. What
> neither George W. Bush, nor Bill Clinton, nor Colin Powell could say
> without facing the risk of stumbling over words and sounds, was being
> heard in a great and unmistakable way in this charity concert. I don't
> know how it happened that all this obsessive singing of America didn't
> sound croaky, nationalist, or ostentatious! It made you green with envy
> because you weren't able to sing for your country without
> running the risk of being considered chauvinist,
> ridiculous, or suspected of who-knows-what mean interests.
> I watched the live broadcast and the rerun of its
> rerun for hours
> listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with
> a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the
> Californian hockey player, who fought with the terrorists and prevented
> the plane from hitting a target that would have killed other hundreds or
> thousands of people. How on earth were they able to bow before a fellow
> human?
> Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory
> of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone
> call, millions and millions of dollars were put in a collection aimed at
> rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit which nothing can buy.
> What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way?
> Their
> land? Their galloping history? Their economic power?
> Money? I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring
> phrases which risk of sounding like commonplaces. I thought things over,
> but I reached only one conclusion. Only freedom can work such miracles!
>
> An ode to America
> Why are Americans so united? They don't resemble one
> another even if
> you paint them! They speak all the languages of the world and form
> an astonishing mixture of civilizations. Some of them are nearly
> extinct, others are incompatible with one another, and in matters of
> religious beliefs, not even God can count how many they are. Still, the
> American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on
> the heart. Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, the secret
> services that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty
> their bank accounts. Nobody rushed on the streets nearby to gape about.
> The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand.
> After the first moments of panic, they raised the flag on the smoking
> ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colors of the national
> flag. They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and
> on every car a minister or the president was passing. On every occasion
> they started singing their traditional song: "God Bless America!".
> Silent as a rock, I watched the charity concert
> broadcast on
> Saturday once, twice, three times, on different TV
> channels. There were Clint Eastwood, Willie Nelson, Robert de Niro,
> Julia Roberts,
> Cassius Clay, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen,
> Silvester Stalone, James Wood, and many others whom no film or producers
> could ever bring together. The American's solidarity spirit turned them
> into a choir. Actually, choir is not the word. What
> you could hear was the heavy artillery of the American soul. What
> neither George W. Bush, nor Bill Clinton, nor Colin Powell could say
> without facing the risk of stumbling over words and sounds, was being
> heard in a great and unmistakable way in this charity concert. I don't
> know how it happened that all this obsessive singing of America didn't
> sound croaky, nationalist, or ostentatious! It made you green with envy
> because you weren't able to sing for your country without
> running the risk of being considered chauvinist,
> ridiculous, or suspected of who-knows-what mean interests.
> I watched the live broadcast and the rerun of its
> rerun for hours
> listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with
> a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the
> Californian hockey player, who fought with the terrorists and prevented
> the plane from hitting a target that would have killed other hundreds or
> thousands of people. How on earth were they able to bow before a fellow
> human?
> Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory
> of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone
> call, millions and millions of dollars were put in a collection aimed at
> rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit which nothing can buy.
> What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way?
> Their
> land? Their galloping history? Their economic power?
> Money? I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring
> phrases which risk of sounding like commonplaces. I thought things over,
> but I reached only one conclusion. Only freedom can work such miracles!
>