I don't even know how to start my inaugural blog post. Do I say something witty to grab your attention or jump right into what I want to say? Well I can figure out effective blog post openings as I go along. But I do have, what I think, is a very solid and powerful first post for America The Beautiful.
Last night was one of the greatest nights of my life, a night I spent with thousands of my fellow countrymen. I want to bring all of you, who were not as lucky as I was to be able to experience it, to Ground Zero during the chaotic celebration occurring during the early morning hours of May 2nd, 2011. Well, here goes nothing, enjoy...
I was down at Ground Zero celebrating from 1:30am to 5:30am this morning and upon returning to St. John's, I have never felt more American. I felt in my heart that I needed to be there. I needed to celebrate the fact that the 2,977 souls that lay interred just feet away from me at the intersection of Church and Vesey Streets now have closure. I met a girl in the crowd who's father was killed when the South Tower collapsed on top of him and she told me that she felt like the ghost of her dad was calling her down to the site of his death. She said it was the first time in 10 years that she had come to the site and not cried. Her and other people who lost relatives on 9/11 now say they no longer see the site as the place where their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, or children were killed, but the place where thousands of Americans celebrated their lives and the fact that justice has finally been realized.
On a personal level, you truly had to be there to completely understand what was happening. The feelings of unity, love, patriotism, memorializing, remembrance, and justice...you could literally feel them in the air and in the hugs and high fives of random strangers who embraced you as a best friend and fellow countryman. I had my arms wrapped around total strangers as we all sang the Star Spangled Banner, God Bless America, New York New York, Born in the USA, We Are The Champions, America The Beautiful, and Amazing Grace accompanied by bagpipers and trumpeters. We chanted "U-S-A, U-S-A" and "New York City" until our voices literally would not produce sound, and at that time we mustered whatever grunts we possibly could in order to participate in the chants. We held moments of silence as we bowed our heads and prayed that the 2,977 victims of Bin Laden's vicious act of terror are smiling down on the crowd, happy we still remember them 10 years on.
Last night, we celebrated much more than a death. We celebrated the ending of the saddest and most tragic chapter in American history. The man who sent 2,977 people to their deaths was finally eliminated by a nation that NEVER rests when it comes to the pursuit of justice. George W. Bush promised that we will never cease in our mission to bring him to justice and last night, his mission was accomplished.
With his arm around a retired firefighter who came down to aid in the recovery effort, Bush declared that "The people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!". Last night, the last sounds Osama Bin Laden heard before a bullet pierced his hate filled brain were not just American army boots in his doorway and their voices barking orders his way. They were the cries of every single American who lost a family member, the sound of metal hurtling over a thousand feet to the ground, and the sound of soft crying at candle light vigils like the one a ten year old Christopher Barca attended on his street 10 years ago. It took 10 years, but somewhere Bush is smiling, knowing Bin Laden has finally heard from all of us.
The amount of Patriotism displayed last night be people of all different races, colors, and religions was indescribable. I was wearing a New England Patriots sweatshirt and a man in a New York Jets shirt came up to me and told me "on a normal day, I would look at you and despise you but tonight I look at you as my brother" and he hugged me in a warm embrace. I felt the unity of the American people. I am a Republican and my friend Alex, who I went to Ground Zero with is the President of College Democrats at my school and we were arm in arm singing all as one all night. Last night, there was no Republican or Democrat. No more red or blue, just Red, White, and Blue.
CNN reporter John Avlon said it best when he wrote this morning "I have never been so happy to hear that someone is dead. It's not bloodlust -- it's justice.
Ten years ago at this time, Osama bin Laden was in Afghanistan planning the terrorist attacks that killed more than 3,000 of our fellow Americans in cold blood.
Now he is dead and the families of his victims can have a measure of comfort. The healing can deepen. And if there's a celebration in the streets outside the White House and ground zero -- just as there was celebration after the death of Adolf Hitler was announced on May 1, 1945 -- it is deserved. It is 10 years overdue." An eye for an eye has the possibility to make the whole world blind, but in my opinion, the world now is that much closer to attaining perfect vision, as this man can no longer blind us with his hate
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/05/02/avlon.binladen.killed/index.html?hpt=T2
I feel like a better American and a better human being that I ran down a Queens highway at 1am with one of my best friends and someone I really didn't know (Alex) in order to catch the subway, as the 2,977 victims were calling me to Ground Zero. I go to that place on every anniversary of 9/11 and their voices called me there because one time, just this one time, we can smile at Ground Zero. We can laugh there, we can sing there, we can cheer there. Our tears are not those of sadness, but of joy knowing that their deaths are no longer without justice. The man who ended their lives is descending to hell just as Americans from all parts of the city descended on Ground Zero to celebrate life that now teems at a place where 10 years ago was a pile of death amid twisted metal and flames.
One will not completely understand what that crowd at Ground Zero means unless you were there, unless you sang along as bagpipers played Taps, Amazing Grace, the National Anthem, and God Bless America while sitting on top of phone booths. One will never completely understand why we were "celebrating more death" unless you were actually there chanting "Ne-ver for-get" as we looked upon One World Trade Center as it rises above Ground Zero. One will never understand the love that Americans share for their nation unless you actually experience that love, which I did last night.
Last night was the greatest night of my life. Last night, I was not a white, Republican, almost 20 year old college student. Last night, I was only an American. Last night, I sang my heart out with thousands of other proud Americans. Last night, I did not celebrate a death. Last night, I celebrated and honored 2,977 lives of my American brothers and sisters who were unfairly taken away from us. Last night, I celebrated justice. We celebrated justice
No comments:
Post a Comment