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Bingo. I mentioned in response to your excellent posts of this past Friday that I think the reason I get emotional about this President (unlike any President in the past) comes from the shattered emotions for me watching my fellow countrymen get incinerated in those four airliners and in the buildings where they exploded, seeing others plummet to their deaths, and watching the collapse of the WTC live and knowing that brave men and women in emergency response were being pulverized to dust under the weight of those buildings. My emotions have been frayed since that day. President Bush, as you have said, has consistently expressed the anger, determination, desire for justice, unwillingness to pursue foreign policy in a "business as usual manner," and the sorrow that most of us have felt. GW Bush is more than simply a President and wise leader -- he's a decent human being who thinks, and feels, like a decent human being.

When I read some of the hardened hatred that some on these boards have for this President (which goes beyond simple disagreement with policies), I have to wonder...are they also decent human beings? I've come to the conclusion that some are not. I await evidence to the contrary.

Double Bingo.

I lost 17 people from my home town in the WTC towers, and 9 very close friends in the Pentagon.

When I saw the President stride out to the mound, I was slightly overwhelmed, having returned a short while before from yet another funeral at Arlington Cemetery for a friend who was killed in the Pentagon. It is impossible to remain dry-eyed through the folding of the flag, that is, IF you've made it past the casson part!!

When I saw the President stride to the mound, I was so overwhelmed that he would do such a thing - go out into the middle of 55,000 people to throw out the first ball. I knew this was supposed to be symbolic, but I did NOT want to be going to Arlington Cemetery for the funeral of another President in my lifetime. I have never prayed so hard, wanted to close my eyes as much as I did, yet stared, transfixed, as he threw the ball, and the crowd burst into the most rousing cheer I've ever heard.

I sat with tears of relief streaming down my face - for the strike, for the fact that my President was still alive, and for the stance that he took. He was saying, "Here ya go, terrorists. We are NOT afraid to go out and enjoy OUR sport."

I grew up at the ballparks of NY - an avid Dodger fan, my Dad took us to Giant games, Dodger games, Yankee games. Any game was good if it was in NY! When they built Shea Stadium for the Mets, I started going there with friends - following in a tradition my Dad had started. In fact, I took a guy from Iowa who had just returned from 'Nam to one of the Mets championship games, and had the thrill of watching them win. A farm boy from Des Moines, he nevertheless knew how to work the parking lot, to get tickets from a scalper so we could get in. How does a farm hick learn such things in the muck of 'Nam?

Anyway, it meant so much to me that the President took the stand he did. He was saying in a way that I could understand and believe, "See? When I say we can go on with our lives, I mean it. We can't let the terrorists win, and stop participating in American life."

It was more than a symbolic, empty gesture. He understood everything there is to understand about American life.

He never ceases to amaze me.

Thanks for relating your thoughts. They speak for many of us. It makes me wonder what sort of hardening of one's conscience has to take place such that they can see the same things we do, as you described, and they react to them with a yawn. They clearly don't "get it," and I'm afraid they never will.

I used to be very pessimistic about the future of this country. I have to say that my hope renewed when a man of decency, integrity, courage, and faith moved into the White House in 2001. As long as enough American people "get it" and support this man of decency, integrity, courage, and faith, I'll retain my hope for America, because it will be an indication that these character qualities are still valued among Americans. It bothers me greatly that many so-called "conservatives" are apparently so cold to those character qualities.

I SO enjoyed your post #211, "Truth." Brought back many memories.

Although I've lived in the L.A. area since 1976, I grew up in Jersey City and Union City, NJ. My father's family emigrated from Italy in the early part of the 20th Century and settled in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. One of my cousins still lives in Greenpoint. My dad is buried in a cemetary on the Brooklyn-Queens border, within sight of lower Manhattan.

For the last five years before moving out here, I lived in Flushing, within walking distance of Flushing Meadow Park and Shea Stadium. My dad took me to Yankee Stadium when I was a kid, and I still remember walking out to center field to see the monuments to the great Yankees of old.

Although I didn't lose anyone close to me on 9/11, I don't think there is anyone who grew up in the New York metro area for whom those attacks weren't deeply personal.

That pompous windbag we were dealing with yesterday simply doesn't understand that quality we call courage. He/she simply is blind to just how significant the seemingly simple gesture of a President throwing a pitch can be to people such as yourself who lost so much that awful day. Such people as the windbag really aren't worth our time.