Peggy Noonan: Welcome Back, Duke

A few weeks ago I wrote a column called "God Is Back," about how, within a day of the events of Sept. 11, my city was awash in religious imagery--prayer cards, statues of saints. It all culminated, in a way, in the discovery of the steel-girder cross that emerged last week from the wreckage--unbent, unbroken, unmelted, perfectly proportioned and duly blessed by a Catholic friar on the request of the rescue workers, who seemed to see meaning in the cross's existence. So do I.

Men who are welders, who do construction, men who are cops and firemen. .....They were tough, rough men, the grunts of the city--construction workers and electrical workers and cops and emergency medical workers and firemen.

Welcome to the world of real men. So you finally noticed them. Before this tragedy, you only thought of them as grunts. Now you're seeing them for the real men they are.

And suddenly I looked around me at all of us who were cheering. And saw who we were. Investment bankers! Orthodontists! Magazine editors! In my group, a lawyer, a columnist and a writer. We had been the kings and queens of the city, respected professionals in a city that respects its professional class. And this night we were nobody.

You certainly had an overblown opinion of your "group". The working classes comprise most of America. The "elite" group you hang out with is only a small percentage. Most of the effete intellectuals, whose company you keep, are weanies.

It may seem that I am really talking about class--the professional classes have a new appreciation for the working class men...

How noble of you. How nice of you to acknowledge them. I guess you have to, since they are the ones who are putting the city back together.

I missed John Wayne. But now I think . . . he's back. .....Welcome back, Duke.

I think I'm gonna hurl.

Newsflash to Noonan: The John Wayne-type was never gone. He just went out of fashion, thanks to people like you.

She's right. We've been missing men for a long time. There are a lot of those real men right here on FreeRepublic, that's what has given us all hope. Real men, secure men, men who build and create and leave the world a better place when they leave.

I'm glad they're back in style. I'm glad children have some real heros to look up to. I'm glad they're out there taking care of us.

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