Posted on 09/12/2001 8:37:06 PM PDT by cicero's_son
I live in Greenwich Village, within sight of where the Towers used to stand and--tonight at least--under an foul-smelling cloud of ash and plaster, drifting up Manhattan island from the crater downtown.
I wanted to tell you about what I saw tonight on the streets just north of the site of the attack.
My girlfriend and I just left an enormous group of people--well over 150--who had gathered along the West Side Highway with homemade signs and flags, to greet the firemen, police, doctors, nurses, and volunteers who are trying to dig our fellow Americans out of the rubble of the collapsed towers.
As the heroes made their way out of the vicinity of the attack, they were cheered by the crowd. People shouted "Thank you!" and "We love you!," waved flags, and even ran out into the street to touch some of the firemen. I never thought I'd live to see the day when such naked and unashamed patriotism would be on display in the heart of Greenwich Village.
I couldn't help thinking while I was there about what a grave mistake our attackers have made. Yamamoto's words were in my ears: "We have awakend a sleeping giant...". All of the internal divisions, all of the nihilistic self-indulgence, all of the natural self-doubt was gone. It was replaced by a overwhelming sense of pride and patriotism. I thought "Yes, this is the same nation that rose up to defeat Japan and Germany. This is the same nation that built itself up into greatness in just 200 years. This is the virtuous Republic our founders fought so hard to create."
I'm sorry for the vanity post, folks. I know we're conserving bandwidth. But this act has obliterated my doubt about our people's resolve. We are strong and ready for whatever they throw at us.
In Boston tonight, there was an apparant SPONTANEOUS celebration of Patriotism on Tremont Street WHICH rides Boston Common by Suffolk University students - MOST OF which were young underclassmen.
It went for possibly 2 hours with flags, signs, singing, chants, cheers and many cars passing through honking into the night.
He was just 2 degrees short of rabid, damanding that we strike now - and hard. Can't remember who was trying to tell us to slow down, but John wasn't hearing it.
"Bomb the HELL out of them!"
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