When you think the U.S. isn't thought well of all over the
world, read this editorial from a Romanian Newspaper.
FROM ROMANIA: RECOGNITION (AND ENVY)
OF THE AMERICAN ETHOS AND ÉLAN!!
Subject: 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, 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, Silvester Stalone, James Wood,
and many others whom no film or producers could ever bring together.
The American's solidarity 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 commonplaces. I thought things over, but I
reached
only one conclusion.
Only freedom can work such miracles!
