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Posted on 04/06/2004 11:37:51 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
Does anyone in this country even remember Sept. 11, 2001, anymore?
Does anyone in this country remember the spirit that gripped America and united us all?
Does anyone in this country remember just when that spirit of unity began to fade?
I can tell you this: It was still alive and well a year after the terrorist attacks.
It was noticed by people around the world. They were in awe of what they saw. And I believe that unity, more than anything else, prevented further devastating attacks on this country.
On Sept. 24, 2002, the Romanian newspaper Evenimentulzilei, "The Daily Event," published the following editorial by Cornel Nistorescu under the headline, "An Ode to America":
Why are Americans so united? They would not resemble one another even if you painted them all one color! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations and religious beliefs. Still, the American tragedy turned 300 million people into a hand put on the heart.
Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the Army and the secret services as a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed out onto the streets to gape about.
The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand. After the first moments of panic, they raised their flag over 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 government official was passing.
On every occasion they started singing their traditional song, "God Bless America!" I watched the live broadcast and rerun after rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down 100 floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the California hockey player who gave his life fighting with the terrorists and preventing a plane from hitting a target that could have killed hundreds or thousands of people.
How on earth were they able to respond united as one human being? 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 no money 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 the answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases with the risk of sounding commonplace. I thought things over, but I reached only one conclusion ...
Only freedom can work such miracles.
It did seem like a time of miracles back then – in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 and for at least a year later.
But that spirit of American unity is dead in 2004.
It is a time of total disunity – of nearly unprecedented divisiveness. The nation is polarized as seldom before in our modern history. The political rhetoric and the partisan attacks are as harsh as ever. Americans seem to agree on little – and no one is singing "God Bless America" any more.
Can anything bring back that unity short of another devastating terror attack?
Is that American spirit a victim of a presidential election year of just fading memories?
Will we ever get another chance to be one nation under God again?
The Romanian observer is right: Freedom is conducive to miracles. But God is the One who performs them.
We need Him now more than ever.
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