American

[cadetat6]

Subject: Editorial 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 was on web of Marion Chard
http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/index.htm

Art

[trina63]

Thanks for sharing this article. I love this country!

[b3196]

We are definitely a proud nation!!! and rightfully so. Thanks for the article
Bob K

[Jerry D]

Ditto 2x agreed

[1CAVCCO15MED]

Only people coming from a dictatorship like Rumania was know how precious freedom is.

[Seascamp]

One of my students told me that she was still angry with her parents for not ?making her? soon enough. She was 17 years and 4 months of age when Hungary (Magyar Orszag) had their first free elections in 1989 and laments she wasn?t 18 and didn?t get to vote. At the time, the Soviet security forces (KGB) and a sizeable chunk of the Soviet Red Army were still well ensconced in Hungary and didn?t pull out until late 1991. This historic reality makes a mockery of Gorbachev?s recent statements about the legitimacy of the Iraq vote whilst US Troops are present. No doubt the Hungarians were a lot more intimidated by Ivan and his KGB thugs and menacing T 72 tanks in their backyard, than the Iraqis were by the presence of US Troops and Armor running point, flank and six cover for the voters. Big difference I?d say but ol? Gorb is da man, right, and must know things, huh. But on the other hand, I don?t see Gorb challenging the legitimacy Magyar vote, either now or then. Alas, the profound hypocrisy of the way Left never ceases to mystify and amaze me, but then, I wear a different colored jersey so I don?t get to see their play book.

And we may remember that the brilliant oracle and wondrous one, John Edwards, made mockery of and delivered insults to coalition Countries supporting the US in Iraq. Well, Hungary has a small contingent of Magyar troops there and I won?t repeat what they have to say about Edwards, aarrgg, and nasty stuff indeed. Their time is up in Iraq and I don?t know if they will stay but they do talk of supporting some pending NATO activity in Iraq.
The Magyar Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurany, just delivered the State of the State/national report card address and one thing he said is interesting. ? We have completed the end of the beginning of our transition from Communism? and that seems about right from what I?ve seen. By disposition, I think the Magyar voters are comfortable with a form of moderate Socialism and get real skittery and nervous about journeys to the left or right of that. It?s only been 16 years of voting freely and I sense the common will is to make no sudden moves and to keep their head down. I can?t say I blame them given their horrific experiences with being ripped to shreds by both the Fascists and Communists.

This may be old news, but I just found out that the US Civil War movie ?Cold Mountain? was filmed next door in Romania and 100% of the editing, mixing and post-production work was done in Bucharest. I think the Director was also Romanian, but don?t know for sure. There is a lot going on here in Central Europe and grabbing up the movie production work from those seeking alternatives to/fleeing from Hollywood/ California seems to be an area of continuing interest.

[Robert Ryan]

ONLY IN AMERICA. GOD KNOWS I LOVE THIS LAND, GOD BLESS THE USA.

[chucktoo1926]

Cadet; thanks for showing us this article from Romania. It feels good to know that somewhere in this world there are people who managed to look past the "Ugly American" persona that has been unfairly tacked on us. Even after 2 world wars and countless others, where our government has sent MILLIONS of men & women to other parts of the world to face the BULLIES, we are still considered worthless. If anyone can name ONE country on the face of this globe, who hasn't received aid from the USofA, please enlighten me.

Imagine for one briefe moment, if we took all the money we have sent overseas and used it here. Social security would be well funded, the myriad of social programs would have whatever they need, we would have better schools, better roads, cleaner cities, etcetera, etcetera.. Don't be alarmed WORLD, we aren't built that way. We will still send our soldiers over to fight your wars. You will still get your ton of money, and we still won't get any thanks. Some things never change. Neither will we.

chucktoo