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Subject: [STEWART-L] Fwd: [Ont] The Spirit of America
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 08:49:25 EDT

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Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2001 15:05:48 -0400
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Subject: [Ont] The Spirit of America
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This was posted to another list I belong to. I hope it's o.k. to pass it
along.

Jennifer

The Spirit of America
by Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

I am the spirit of America.
I am the Stars and Stripes waving proudly from homes, schools, office
buildings and government centers.
I am New York City Fire Chief Peter J. Ganci Jr., Deputy Fire
Commissioner William Feehan, Second-in-Command Tom Von Essen and Rev. Mychal
Judge.
I am the hundreds of yet-unnamed firefighters, police officers and Port
Authority officers who are missing and will not be found.
I am the men and women who knew they were going to die and thus jumped,
choosing to have some measure of control over the last breath of their
lives.
I am the thousands of volunteers who have rolled up their sleeves and
donned surgical masks to aid the workers digging through the
incomprehensible
rubble and debris in lower Manhattan.
I am Michael Benfante, 22, and John Cerqueria, 36, who carried a
disabled woman down 68 floors of a World Trade Center stairwell and placed
the woman in an emergency van.
I am the passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 who fought with
their hijackers and brought down the plane outside Pittsburgh, 250 miles
from
its intended target in Washington, DC.
I am the dozens of passengers aboard the other hijacked planes who
called
loved ones to say goodbye, or tried to alert authorities.
I am President George W. Bush, doing and saying the right things in the
face of an unprecedented national tragedy.
I am former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore,
voicing unconditional support for the President.
I am the members of Congress, standing united on the steps of the U. S.
Capitol and spontaneously breaking into God Bless America.
I am New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, wearing a cap and sweat shirt
emblazoned with the logo of the New York City Fire Department, standing
strong, calm and forceful while addressing the city.
I am the loved ones who are holding up photos on television, pasting
leaflets on the side of TV news vans, and keeping vigil in the faint hopes
that their mother, their father, their child, will be found.
I am the crowds lining the streets of lower Manhattan, cheering the
rescue workers and truck drivers and technicians heading to the disaster
site.
I am the nurses and doctors who have come to New York City to help.
I am the millions of Americans who have reached out to friends with
e-mails and phone calls to say, "I hope you=92re all right, and I hope you
didn=92t lose anyone close to you. And if I haven=92t said it lately, I lov=
e
you."
I am the thousands upon thousands of Americans in Los Angeles and Denver
and Phoenix and Detroit and Philadelphia who have lined up to donate blood.
I am the electric ribbon of red, white, and blue rimming the top of the
John Hancock Center on a September night.
I am the New Yorkers who have laid flowers and hand-scribbled words of
mourning at the site of the disaster.
I am the construction workers who fashioned stretchers from materials at
their nearby work sites and joined the firefighters and the police in rescue
efforts.
I am the Chicago-area firefighters who rode in a caravan of recreational
vehicles and sport utility vehicles to New York to offer assistance to their
colleagues.
I am the people gathered at Riverfront Park in Spokane, Washington,
singing Amazing Grace.
I am the business professionals who have donated coffee, food, hotel
rooms, phones, and other services.
I am the journalists covered in soot and risking their own safety so
they
can tell the world what has happened.
I am the camera operators who stood strong and took video and still
photographs, even as people around them ran for their lives.
I am General Electric, donating $10 million to the families of emergency
workers who have lost their lives.
I am the investigators who are working swiftly and with precision to
identify the terrorists and their accomplices.
I am the Pentagon workers who aren=92t coming home.
I am Ronnie Clifford, who was trying to save a woman=92s life outside th=
e
first tower, even as his own sister was aboard the United Airlines plane
that
was about to hit the second tower.
I am the rescue personnel who toil to the point of exhaustion, take a
break and then get back to the most grisly and heartbreaking work
imaginable.
I am the millions of Americans who will mourn, weep, pray, and never
forget.
I am the spirit of America, and I am alive and strong, and you can never
kill me.



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=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
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