Posted on 11/24/2004 7:59:29 AM PST by nicollo
25nov04 1999 – Five-year-old Elian Gonzalez is rescued at sea after a boat capsizes during a voyage from Cuba to the United States, killing his mother and 10 others. Elian is turned over to his Miami relatives.
Among things for which I shall give thanks, and there are so many, especially the blessings of the American past and its continued promise, is that for a moment, a little boy reminded us of why those blessings are so dear, and, so sadly, how tenuous it can be.
On November 24, 1999, little Elian Gonzalez was brought to us by miracle and human will, and I view it as a happy and appropriate coincidence that the fifth anniversary of his rescue from the sea and from the evil grip of an evil man falls this year on Thanksgiving Day.
I hope you will remember Elian in your Thanksgiving prayers and wishes, and give thanks for all that we have, that which was stolen from him, and which he ought yet have and enjoy.
September 25?
Thank you. I will never forget Elian and I pray that one day he will be living in a free Cuba ... sooner rather than later.
Oh, hell, November 25, 1999!
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Thanks for checking in, Kay. I wish you a happy thanksgiving day!
I was flipping channels last night and saw that guy who was holding the boy in the face of the storm trooper's machine gun in the famous photo (what's his name...Dalrymple, or whatever...). He was telling the newsies how wrong he was, and how he understood Elian's father's sorrow now.
The twit's overemotional and obviously been turned.
My Cuban in-laws will never forget, and made damned sure Frankenstein and Igor lost Florida this time around. (Oh, and let's not forget that AlGore publically came out AGAINST the kidnapping by the storm troopers, just to be fair.)
I don'intend here to re-live those moments, and the personalities of it all, and I can't speak for the family members who were directly involved.
This story touched me so deeply from the beginning for that simple, yet profound human struggle it represents on so many levels.
Happy thanksgiving to you!
I'll be spending the holidays with my in-laws down in Miami. Being around them always reminds me how lucky I was to be born and raised in the South.
I Still Think of Elian
Pinging some friends on an Elian anniversary.
Still, I have faith that at the least he would have told Castro "No comprendo", we wouldn't have seen Gestapos attack in Miami and Elian would be enjoying a large Turkey meal tomorrow that would feed a family of four in Cuba for three months.
Things always work out for good, because God intends it that way.
Maybe one day Elian will be the President of Cuba who restoers freedom, democracy, and a good relationship (alliance) with America.
My dream is that Juan Miguel will be Castro's heir and Elian will overthrow his father and become President of a democratic Cuba.
Elian's power as a symbol of a spirit yearning to be free has never lost importance to me, even with the passage of time. I was going through old records a week and a half ago, shredding old cancelled checks, and came across two I had made out to Elian's Legal Defense Fund.
Well said, and same for me. This story has affected me as much as any other outside of Sept. 11. I never understood how my father felt about the Challenger disaster until I got a similar feeling from the Elian episodes. For my dad, the Challenger crash threw his sense of right and wrong, and hope and despair went hand-in-hand. He's never lost these feelings, and it holds an important place in his psyche, even today.
Elian will be the same for me, always.
I will remember Elian in my prayers. God bless!
We can't say what Dubya would have done, but we can sure guess :)
On top of the sickening abuse of a nation's honor, Clintoon turned an outright publicity coup for freedom into a panzied celebration of Fidel.
And I cry for Elian.
Thanks for checking in and Happy Thanksgiving!
To our troops, and to all those serving America and keeping her safe, thank you! You're what keeps this nation the place that people like Elian's mother so desperately wanted to live in.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Don't worry about it. In 20 years he'll probably be dealing cards in a casino in downtown Havana, after we take it over and turn the whole place into a Caribbean Vegas. The whole place will be a tourist trap, with a pirates of the Caribbean theme.
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