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Cassius Clay????? Show some respect please!!!!! >From: Michel Margosis <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: An ode to America >Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 23:55:22 -0500 > >Received another beautiful message from my daughter Leah..... >with love, >Michel >--------------------------------------------------------------------- >When you think the U.S. isn't thought well of all over the world, read this >editorial from a Romanian Newspaper. > >FROM ROMANIA: RECOGNITION (AND ENVY) OF THE AMERICAN ETHOS AND ÉLAN > >An ode to America > >Why are Americans so united? They don't resemble one another even if you >paint them! They speak all the languages of the world and form an >astonishing mixture of civilizations. Some of them are nearly extinct, >others are incompatible with one another, and in matters of religious >beliefs, not even God can count how many they are. > >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, or the >secret services that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to >empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed on 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 the flag on 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 minister or the president was passing. On every occasion they >started singing their traditional song: "God Bless America!". > >Silent as a rock, I watched the charity concert broadcast on Saturday once, >twice, three times, on different TV channels. There were Clint Eastwood, >Willie Nelson, Robert de Niro, Julia Roberts, Cassius Clay, Jack Nicholson, >Bruce Springsteen, Silvester Stalone, James Wood, and many others whom no >film or producers could ever bring together. The American's solidarity >spirit turned them into a choir. Actually, choir is not the word. What >you >could hear was the heavy artillery of the American soul. What neither >George W. Bush, nor Bill Clinton, nor Colin Powell could say without > facing the risk of stumbling over words and sounds, was being heard in a >great and unmistakable way in this charity concert. > >I don't know how it happened that all this obsessive singing of America >didn't sound croaky, nationalist, or ostentatious! It made you green with >envy because you weren't able to sing for your country without running the >risk of being considered chauvinist, ridiculous, or suspected of who >knows-what mean interests. > >I watched the live broadcast and the rerun of its 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 fought with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a >target >that would have killed other hundreds or thousands of people. How on earth >were they able to bow before a fellow human? 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 nothing 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 which risk of sounding like >commonplaces. I thought things over, but I reached only one >conclusion. > >Only freedom can work such miracles! > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------- >Michel Margosis >7442 Spring Village Drive, # 224 >Springfield, VA. 22150-4444 >703-569-2630 > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: >mailto:[log in to unmask] >In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn