It is hard out here
September 11th, five years later.
In case you wanted to know, I just ate a hot dog with mustard and onions and washed it down with a Budweiser beer. What more proof do you need that we live in a great country?
It is hard to believe it’s been five years since everybody in this country shared a horrible loss. It is if we were all related to the same person who died in a terrible tragedy.
But one of the few bright spots is that, for once, we got to focus on how great the vast majority of Americans really are. In an entertainment and media culture that spends way too much time focusing on the negatives like corrupt politicians, felonious million-dollar athletes, drug addicts, killers and Paris Hilton, we got to shine a light on the countless millions of kind-hearted and hard working people who were deeply hurt that day and were moved to do something about it.
As David Letterman described so well soon after the attack, a small Montana agricultural town, hurt financially by drought, called a town meeting and raised thousands of dollars to send to New York. As Dave choked up he said, “If that doesn’t tell you what you need to know, well, I can’t help you.”
With most everybody, albeit amazingly calmly and patiently, trying to get out of New York on September 11th, how about the thousands of people from the often-hip-New-Yorker-maligned “Bridge and Tunnel crowd” from New Jersey and Brooklyn, who were trying to get in to New York to help out and donate blood?
Unlike what a lot of people believe from what they see on “Access Hollywood,” most people are not famous and rich. Most people work hard everyday to take care of their loved ones. Most of the time nobody ever pays any attention to these people who simply are the backbone of our country.
On or around September 17th, I flew to Louisville Kentucky for a meeting. The airports were ghost towns, the airplanes were all but empty. The few of us who did travel felt a bond and gave a nod of “good for you.”
As I prepared to land in Louisville, I began to wonder what kind of impact this attack had on people so physically and emotionally removed from New York City. In all candor, for better and for worse, you can’t get much different in American cities than Louisville and New York, so I prepared myself to not be upset or surprised if my birthplace felt a little ambivalent or removed from all of that pain.
I’ve been wrong about things before, and I’ll be wrong about things again, but rarely have I been so wrong. You could see the tortured agony in the face of those wonderful, sweet, kind Louisville people. There wasn’t a window without a flag or a shirt without an American flag button. And I don’t remember hearing one word spoken in hatred about the attackers, it was only about the sadness, empathy and the hot tears of frustration for the victims and their families.
It reminded me how proud I am of all of us.
Well, except Paris Hilton.
Vinny “boom batz” Abate, hoisted a couple to you last night. For a guy who used to say forgetaboutit a lot, we sure as hell aren’t going to.
In case you wanted to know, I just ate a hot dog with mustard and onions and washed it down with a Budweiser beer. What more proof do you need that we live in a great country?
It is hard to believe it’s been five years since everybody in this country shared a horrible loss. It is if we were all related to the same person who died in a terrible tragedy.
But one of the few bright spots is that, for once, we got to focus on how great the vast majority of Americans really are. In an entertainment and media culture that spends way too much time focusing on the negatives like corrupt politicians, felonious million-dollar athletes, drug addicts, killers and Paris Hilton, we got to shine a light on the countless millions of kind-hearted and hard working people who were deeply hurt that day and were moved to do something about it.
As David Letterman described so well soon after the attack, a small Montana agricultural town, hurt financially by drought, called a town meeting and raised thousands of dollars to send to New York. As Dave choked up he said, “If that doesn’t tell you what you need to know, well, I can’t help you.”
With most everybody, albeit amazingly calmly and patiently, trying to get out of New York on September 11th, how about the thousands of people from the often-hip-New-Yorker-maligned “Bridge and Tunnel crowd” from New Jersey and Brooklyn, who were trying to get in to New York to help out and donate blood?
Unlike what a lot of people believe from what they see on “Access Hollywood,” most people are not famous and rich. Most people work hard everyday to take care of their loved ones. Most of the time nobody ever pays any attention to these people who simply are the backbone of our country.
On or around September 17th, I flew to Louisville Kentucky for a meeting. The airports were ghost towns, the airplanes were all but empty. The few of us who did travel felt a bond and gave a nod of “good for you.”
As I prepared to land in Louisville, I began to wonder what kind of impact this attack had on people so physically and emotionally removed from New York City. In all candor, for better and for worse, you can’t get much different in American cities than Louisville and New York, so I prepared myself to not be upset or surprised if my birthplace felt a little ambivalent or removed from all of that pain.
I’ve been wrong about things before, and I’ll be wrong about things again, but rarely have I been so wrong. You could see the tortured agony in the face of those wonderful, sweet, kind Louisville people. There wasn’t a window without a flag or a shirt without an American flag button. And I don’t remember hearing one word spoken in hatred about the attackers, it was only about the sadness, empathy and the hot tears of frustration for the victims and their families.
It reminded me how proud I am of all of us.
Well, except Paris Hilton.
Vinny “boom batz” Abate, hoisted a couple to you last night. For a guy who used to say forgetaboutit a lot, we sure as hell aren’t going to.
posted by Alex at
1:07 PM
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