The events of the last week have made me feel everything from shock to pain to anger and finally pride. Why pride? Because, since the attacks I've seen Americans come together as a nation. So much of who we are is fragmented into little pieces that we sometimes forget we do have a common belief system. It does, sadly, take something tragic to remind us that we stand together. We are one coutry and one people. There are those who hate us for simply being us. We aren't ashamed to be ourselves, but they are. We aren't ashamed to fail or to win... and for that they hate us. Really they hate us because we have it better. It wasn't luck, it was hard work and the idea that one man (person) can make a difference.I think back to what Lincoln said about this great nation and how he had so much hope for it in its darkest hour. Now we far the darkest hour of our nations history. I know that we will find the strength to carry on and rebuild and better ourselves. This country is a work in progress, a great experiment in democracy that has bounced back over and over again. Why? Because we are able to learn from our mistakes. We're able to take our faults and turn them into strengths. We are able to adapt and not simply stay the status quo.
The darkness surrounds us right now, but the dawn will come soon. When it does the rays of the sun will shine and it will be a dawn of a new era in which we carry the flag of freedom higher than ever before.
My shock has turned to pride because I have seen how we have pulled together. And that's what the terrorist don't understand about us, that we will bond and only come out of this stronger. We will not buckle, we will not break. The terrorist failed to break us... they only made us stronger. And for that strength I'm proud to be an American today.
