Coming Together
September 21, 2001
7:05 a.m.
I saw on the news this morning that a hockey game was stopped after the second period because George Bush was speaking. The speech was starting right as the third period was due. The team told the crowd that the president's address would be played outside, in the stadium hallways. The people booed and hooted, and asked the feed to be put back on. So the team obliged. They piped the speech into the diamond vision or whatever system was there. The report showed players and people staring up at the screen and watching intently. It showed them standing and clapping. When the speech itself was over, the players met and shook hands. The rest of the game was called off. The score was 2-2. You can read about it here.   I wish I had been there. One of the reasons I write my journal is to have a place to work out exactly what I think about certain things. I'm past the age where I think my immediate reaction is always right, but obviously not yet old or wise enough to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my second reaction is much better. Sometimes it takes a little thinking to work things through. So I've written a lot. In the past couple days I would say that I've written 20 pages or more, single spaced, times new roman font. Probably 12,000 words. These words come really fast--maybe 1,500 an hour, maybe more. You can breathe easy, though. You're not going to see them. Most of what I've written will never actually see light of day. Most of it is just me coming to grips with what has happened and what might happen. So George Bush addressed congress and the hockey game last night. He made firm comments. He made bold commitments. He described at the highest level how the world is going to attack this. He talked about religious faiths, and how they are all together in their thrust. He talked about countries around the world who are joining us. He talked about what we needed to do. People say that George Bush is dumb. I have always found that interesting. I also find it interesting that among our country the people that are most actively criticizing his method of communication are those that spend the rest of their lives preaching tolerance of our differences. George Bush is no orator. In general he has a rambling approach to his speech pattern. Consider it a cousin to a stutter. Would these people who think George Bush is so stupid say the same thing if he stuttered? I saw a reporter criticize him the other day for uttering the phrase "I know what I believe, and I believe what I believe is right." I don't know why the reporter criticized him. I understood what the president meant pretty clearly. Actually, I do know why the reporter criticized it. But I don't want to write a negative piece. I'm tired of negative things. Last night a hockey team stopped a game to let the fans watch the country and the world focus. Those people saw George Bush and Tom Daschle shaking hands. They saw Tony Blair in the balcony. They saw Republicans and Democrats give a joint response. They saw commentary afterward about working together, about our leaders still having differences but being suddenly more able to see the differences in their proper light. They saw the leadership of the country gaining perspective of itself, and mostly they saw it beginning to decide what was right. Some people will not be swayed, though. Some will think this is a "war" that cannot be won. To them I say this: If half the world united was enough to defeat fascism, I can't imagine the entire world united can't defeat terrorism. And make no bones about it. The world is uniting over this. Watch it happen. The world is full of people who know the difference between right and wrong. The fact that you may not know how a task will be done does not mean it cannot be done. Some will be heartbroken because we are retaliating at all. They feel this action makes us no better than those that attacked us. To them I say I understand their position but I don't agree with it. Some people will say "The US is a imperialist dictatorship! Hell no, we won't go," and they'll move to Canada. To them I say good luck. And, oh, uh, by the way ... Canada is with us, too. I hear they play a little hockey there.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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"We don't view this as a war of religion in any way, shape or form," Bush told reporters from the Oval Office where he met with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri. "And for those who try to pit religion against religion, our great nation will stand up and reject that kind of thought." From an article on ABCnews.com |
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