Subject: Fw: FROM A ROMANIAN NEWSPAPER

Excerpt from a Romanian Newspaper

We rarely get a chance to see another country's editorial about the USA.

Read this excerpt from a Romanian Newspaper.  The article was written by

Mr. Cornel Nistorescu and published under the title "C"ntarea Americii,

meaning "Ode To America" on September 24, 2002, in the Romanian

newspaper Evenimentulzilei ("The Daily Event" or "News of the Day").

~An Ode to America~

Why are Americans so united?  They would not resemble one another even

if you painted them all one color!  They speak all the languages of the

world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations and religious

beliefs.  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 out onto 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 their flag over 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 government official or the president was

passing.

On every occasion, they started singing their traditional song:  "God

Bless America"!  I watched the live broadcast and rerun after 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 gave his life fighting with the

terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that could have

killed other hundreds or thousands of people.

How on earth were they able to respond united as one human being?

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 no money 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 with the risk of

sounding commonplace.

I thought things over, but I reached only one conclusion...only freedom

can work such miracles.

Cornel Nistorescu

(This deserves to be passed around the Internet forever.)