Bowed Maybe But Unbroken
September 14, 2001
BY RICHARD ROEPER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
I am the spirit of America. I am the Stars and Stripes
waving proudly from homes, schools, football fields, office buildings and
government centers.
I am New York City Chief of Department Peter J. Ganci,
Jr., First Deputy Fire Commissioner William Feehan,
Capt. Raymond Downey and FDNY Chaplain Mychal Judge.
I am the hundreds of firefighters, policemen and Port Authority officers who
are missing and will not be found.
I am the men and women who knew they were going to die and thus jumped from the
towers, choosing to have some measure of control over the last breaths they
would take.
I am the thousands of volunteers who have rolled up their sleeves and donned
surgical masks to aid the workers digging through the incomprehensible rubble
and debris in lower Manhattan.
I am Michael Benfante, 22, and John Cerqueria, 36, who carried a disabled woman down 68 floors
of a World Trade Center stairwell and placed the woman
in an emergency van.
I am the passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 who fought with their
hijackers and brought the plane down outside Pittsburgh, 250 miles from its
intended target in Washington, D.C.
I am the dozens of passengers aboard the other hijacked planes who called loved
ones to say goodbye, or tried to alert authorities.
I am the pilots and flight attendants on those planes.
I am President George W. Bush, doing and saying the right things in the face of
an unprecedented national tragedy.
I am former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore, voicing
unconditional support for President Bush.
I am the
members of Congress, standing on the steps of the Capitol and breaking into a
rendition of "God Bless America."
I am the loved ones who are holding up photos on TV, pasting leaflets on the
side of TV news vans, and keeping vigil in the faint hopes that their mother, their father, their child, will be
found.
I am the crowds lining the streets of lower Manhattan, cheering the
rescue workers and truck drivers and technicians heading to the disaster site.
I am the nurses and doctors who have come to New York to help.
I am the millions of Americans who have reached out to friends with e-mails and
phone calls saying, "I hope you're all right I hope you didn't lose anyone
close to you, and if I haven't said it lately, I love you."
I am New York
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, wearing a cap and sweatshirt emblazoned with logos of
the
New York City Fire Department,
standing strong and calm and forceful while addressing the city.
I am the thousands upon thousands of Americans in Los Angeles and Denver and Phoenix and Detroit and Philadelphia who have
lined up to donate blood.
I am the electric ribbon of red, white and blue rimming the top of the John Hancock Center on a
Wednesday night in September.
I am the New Yorkers who have laid flowers and hand-scribbled words of mourning
at the site of the disaster.
I am the construction workers who fashioned stretchers from materials at their
nearby work sites, and then joined the firefighters and the police in rescue
efforts.
I am the Chicago-area firefighters who rode in a caravan of RVs and SUVs to New York to offer
assistance to their colleagues.
I am the people gathered in Riverfront Park in Spokane, Wash., singing
"Amazing Grace."
I am the business professionals who have donated coffee, food, hotel rooms,
phones and other services.
I am the journalists covered in soot and risking their own safety so they can
tell the world what has happened.
I am the camera operators who stood strong and took video and still
photographs, even as people around them ran for their lives.
I am General Electric, donating $10 million to the families of emergency workers
who have lost their lives.
I am the investigators who are working swiftly and with precision to identify
the terrorists and their accomplices.
I am the Pentagon workers who aren't coming home.
I am Ronnie Clifford, who was trying to save a woman's life outside the first
tower, even as his own sister was aboard the United Airlines plane that was
about to hit the second tower.
I am the rescue personnel who toil to the point of exhaustion, take a
break--and then get back to the most grisly and heartbreaking work imaginable.
I am the millions of Americans who will mourn, weep, pray--and never forget.
I am the spirit of America, and I am
alive and strong, and you can never kill me.
Copyright
by the Chicago Sun-Times