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, 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
colours 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 sacrifice for their fellow
humans? 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!
