An ode to America
by Cornel Nistorescu

Why are Americans so united? They don't resemble one another even if you paint them! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations. Some of them are nearly extinct, others are
incompatible with one another, and in matters of religious beliefs, not even God can count how many they are.
Still,the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart. Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, the secret services that they are only a
bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed on the streets nearby to gape about.
The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand. After the first        moments of panic, they raised the flag on the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colours of the national flag.
They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and on every car a minister or the president was passing. On every occasion they started singing their traditional song: "God Bless America!".
 Silent as a rock, I watched the charity concert broadcast on Saturday once, twice, three times, on different tv channels. There were
Clint Eastwood, Willie Nelson, Robert de Niro, Julia Roberts, Cassius Clay, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen, Silvester Stalone, James Wood, and many others whom no film or producers could ever bring together.
The American's solidarity spirit turned them into a choir. Actually, choir is not the word. What you could hear was the heavy artillery of the American soul.
What neither George W. Bush, nor Bill Clinton, nor Colin Powell could say without facing the
risk of stumbling over words and sounds, was being heard in a great and unmistakable way in this charity concert.
I don't know how it happened that all this obsessive singing of America didn't sound
croaky, nationalist, or ostentatious! It made you green with envy because you weren't able to sing for your country without running the risk of being considered chauvinist, ridiculous, or suspected of who-knows-what mean interests.
I watched the live broadcast and the rerun of its rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who fought with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that would have killed other hundreds of thousands of people.  How on earth were they able to bow before a fellow human? Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put in a collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit which nothing can buy.
What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way? Their land? Their galloping history? Their economic power? Money? I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases which risk of sounding like commonplaces. I thought things over, but I reached only one conclusion.

     Only freedom can work such miracles!

Forgot to give credit for the artical. The guy that wrote it is a writter for a newspapper in Romainia.

Sometimes you need to listen to what other folks are saying about you, especially when they are far enough removed to at least appear to be without prejudice.

This Romanian has his headgear on right!

Freedom is something that we sometimes take for granted here in the United States.

Just like we used to take security for granted!

Eric The(ButNotAnyMore!)Hun[>]:)]

HOOYAH!....

It seems as though American freedom can only truly be appreciated by non-Americans.  Kind of sad, don't you think?




"Do what you will,
just don't think the liberals just hate all of this nationalistic unity."

Not entirely true - I know [b]I[/b] have always had a profound appreciation for freedom. Too many of us don't though....

Simple - Cassius Clay was not a draft-dodging conscientious objector, Muhammad Ali was.

Eric The(There,ThatMustBeIt!)Hun[>]:)]

I can't get past the first sentence.  America is really no more united than it ever was.  Saying otherwise is just unsubtantiated bullshit.

Consensus and blind patriotism are far more dangerous than considered debate and disagreements.  I get upset when everyone agrees because I know it isn't the normal and healthy way of life in America.  Consensus and going along to get along are the easy way out.  

We don't want Congress to eliminate partisanship (it hasn't anyways--everyone is just pushing their agenda in the name of fighting terror now).  What good is agreement if it just leads to further erosion of our already battered liberty?

Flight 93 was shot down, by the way.  The last sounds from the cockpit were of pages in a manual being turned.  No sign of a struggle or out of control aircraft.  Bush gave the order, the F-16s from Langley carried it out.  Then they all lied about it.  So patriotic.

Trickshot types funny things because his tinfoil hat tickles when his head is that far up his ass.

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