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opinion:
chef ben's stew
Strength of a
nation shown in response
If Dec. 7, 1941, was
the day that will live in infamy, then certainly Sept. 11, 2001,
is the day much too horrific for any adjective to describe.
Like in a scene
from an action movie, thousands of innocent victims were slaughtered
as apparent terrorists steered two hijacked commercial airplanes
into both World Trade Center buildings and one more into the
Pentagon, which ignited blazes and eventually reduced both
Manhattan skyscrapers to rubble.
But Tuesday's "Attack
on America," justifiably dubbed by nearly every news
channel on television, was no imaginative vision from a movie,
it was the country's worst nightmare.
The lasting image
of people frantically fleeing the streets to avoid being swallowed
by a cloud of smoke and debris will be forever engrained in
the memories of an entire generation.
However, U.S. forces
will not distinguish between the fugitives and those harboring
the fugitives, President Bush stressed during his national
evening address Monday night.
While the intelligence
personnel and the military forces of the United States comb
so meticulously to apprehend the perpetrators of this heinous
act, I have found a silver lining to this very gray cloud.
As seemingly endless
reports focus on how this could have happened or how Bush
vowed to hunt down the "folks" who committed this
act, I feel fortunate enough to see a bit beyond the tragedy.
Believe it or not,
the effects of these terrorist acts displayed the solidarity
of an entire nation.
One of the worst
crises in American history beckoned the assistance of citizens
to aid those involved in the tragedy, and the response has
overwhelmingly exceeded the call to action.
On the radio, the
television, in the newspapers and Web sites, telephone numbers
are posted around the clock for anyone who is willing to donate
blood or volunteer their efforts in some way to help the victims.
In New York, hundreds
of volunteers and medical workers gravitated immediately to
the cordoned-off section of Manhattan to contribute blood
and assistance to the rescue efforts, an Associated Press
report stated.
The desire of so
many people to drop everything they are doing and help the
victims of this national disaster in any way possible speaks
volumes about the sense of empathy and responsibility that
we, as citizens, have for one another.
Sure, buildings
were destroyed, but it seems as though national spirit has
strengthened.
In the face of
a catastrophic disaster, people have banded together to support
the victims.
What should have
been a nationwide panic-setter, instead became a nationwide
rallying point -- only in America.
Ben Dimapindan
is a journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
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