Columnist Reese Reflects on New Yorkers in Wake of 9-11: "A Fine Hour"

King Features Syndicate, Inc. ^ | 09-19-03 | Reese, Charley

[Theodore R.]

A Fine Hour

The best thing to remember about Sept. 11, 2001, is the magnificent way that New Yorkers and indeed all Americans responded to the tragedy.

Being a country boy, I've never been fond of any big city, but on that day and in the days following, I would have been proud to be called a New Yorker. The way the people of that city opened their hearts, their arms and their pocketbooks to each other should stand forever as a rebuke to cynics. What a grand example they were of human beings at their very best. That I will never forget.

It's another example of what I've decided is a great irony. Human beings are most often at their best during adversity. When things are going along fine, we tend to get self-centered, but let some stark disaster remind us of how ephemeral human life is, and all the great virtues - heroism, generosity, compassion - come to the fore.

What was so grand is that the response of the New Yorkers was spontaneous. Nobody had to issue any orders or directions. People saw needs and met them, whether it was store owners giving away food and water, ironworkers showing up with their tools, firefighters and police officers descending on the wreckage, politicians suddenly speaking from the heart, people standing in the streets and applauding rescue workers, or strangers hugging and helping each other.

We should remember those images of human decency rather than the collapse of the buildings and the malicious killing of innocent people. Evil exists, and we have to deal with it, but it does no good to dwell on it or become obsessed with it. Goodness, on the other hand, which was demonstrated all over that great city by people who were suddenly bonded by tragedy, is worth cherishing.

If any marking of that date is to be done, it should be a Salute to New York City, a great city that took a terrible blow but remained proudly on its feet. It is indeed a great city of great people with great heart and great ability. Look how quickly they moved an unimaginable amount of tonnage of wrecked steel. They cleared that site in eight months. That's amazing. Already they are planning to rebuild. Look how calmly they took a blackout in stride - no looting, no riots. They proved that the spirit of 9-11 is permanent. As terrible a paradox as it is, New York City emerged from the tragedy a better place than it was before.

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Americans all over this country today feel proud of New York City and look upon it with affection and admiration. I certainly do. I've always been a New York Yankees fan. Now I'm a New York City fan. Before, I never went there unless business forced me to go. Now, I'm looking forward to an opportunity to vacation there.

It's easy to become cynical, especially in this media age characterized by cynicism, superficiality, sensationalism and the media's ability to gather all the evil events in the world and dump them into our living rooms on a daily basis. God help us if Americans really were as they are depicted on television, both in its entertainment shows and its advertising.

In fact, they are not. New York City residents showed us how Americans really are - tough, brave, compassionate, smart and generous. Osama bin Laden made the same mistake that Japanese militarists made at Pearl Harbor. He woke a sleeping giant. He reminded us all of what a great country we have. He reminded us that what we have in common dwarfs our differences. He might have thought we were soft and materialistic, but what he uncovered was a people with generous hearts but steel backbones.

His mistake will eventually cost him his life. That's only a matter of time. But the cruelest irony of all, from his standpoint, is that quite unintentionally he made us see that we are better and stronger than even we thought we were.

© 2003 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.