Citizens show compassion for victims
By Ashley Ritchie
In the short 19 years that I have lived on this Earth, few things have affected me quite like the recent attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I am sure that by even doing a column on this subject, some might feel that I am beating a dead horse. But, with a sutuation like this, I think it is pretty newsworthy and worth being talked about for a very long time. My twist on the story, howerver, is how these attacks, horrificas as they were, have ironically reinstated inside of me an amazing amount of hope.
I say that I have found this new hope vecause of the incredible generosity I have witnessed in the past week. It is unbelieveable. Just when I begin to believe that the American people and the rest of the world are futher and further distancing themselves from each other because of things such as racial barriers and religions differences, they go and probve me wrong by displaying the countless acts of kindness and heroism that they have shown recently.
Example 1: The Rescue Teams. I cannot even begin to imagin the pain and anguis that these people have gon though. Picture yourself standing amidst a pile of mass destruction with absolutely no signs of life only to find hundreds of your closest friends among the dead. How do you deal with that? How do you go home every night and fall asleep knowing that you probably escaped death by three minutes and that instead your best friend was put in your place? It is simply untinkable. And what about the hundreds of rescue workers who died? They bravely encered the destroyed World Trade Center knowing that there was a good possibility that they would die. Anbd even though the did not even know the people they were putting their lives on the line for, they still rushed into the flames. Their first instince was to save lives, and whose lives they were was not even a question to be pondered. They were humans, and that was good enough. Now who can say that Americans are dividing themselves by their differences? Not these ones.
Example 2: The public. Now I suppose that this is an obvious one, but really, lets stop and think about just how responsive the American community has been. As I drove to school last week I left the Central Valley where every house was poasting their American flag and every individual was either giving blood or raising money. A local television station held a telethon to raise $250,000 while radio stations across the county were raising around $60,000 each with their own activities such as putting together hit songs with chilling words from television broadcasts. Sitting in a restaurant, I overheard a little girl in the next booth telling her mother, "They won't win Mommy because our troops are better than theirs." People are obviously talking about it and they are obviously caring as well. Then as I got on the 101 freeway to come to school, I began to see American flags on every overpass as well as signs intended to unite America. I passed about a hundred cars ith some type of red, white and blue paraphernalia that made me feel as if they were feeling exactly what was in my heart.
Example 3: The World. Lately, I look upon the rest of the world for a sense of reassurance. On television, I watched the various reactions to the terror around the world and what different countries were doing in response. I was absolutely baffled by the thousands of people in Germany who gathered to light candles and say praywers for their American friends. The same Germany that was america's bitter enemy just 50 shore years ago. The Prime Minister as well as thousands of other Canadians showed their support by having a memorial and singing the American national anthem. I also saw places such as England and Scotland and many other that I know I have left out all producing this huge amount of love for the Americans. And finally, what touched me most of all was a group of children somewhere in the Middle East holding their own candlelight vigil. One girl was even quoted as saying, "Today, we are all Americans." A child too young to recognizz the presence of hatred for America surrounding her, only knew that innocent poeple died and that war was not right. It seems that the rest of the world, too, has taken on the love of a child. And, while opinions differe widely on what to do now and what should have been done before, the one things is clear: in times of strife, humans go back to one of their most primitive funcions, compassion. It is because of compassion that we see the overflowing lines at the blood banks and the firemen entering burning buildings with the knowledge that their lives were in great danger.