Ode To America...
We rarely get a chance to see another country's editorial about
us, the USA. When you think the US isn't well thought of all
over the world, read this editorial from a Romanian Newspaper.
~An Ode to America~
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, and 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 colors 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, Sylvester Stalone, James Wood, and many
others whom no film or producers could ever bring together.
The American's solidarity of 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 or 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 common places. I thought things
over, but I reached only one conclusion.
Only freedom can work such miracles!
Click on Emblem
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