SHOCK AND HOPE [Author: Tick]

I’m going to talk about love.

The kind of love that lets a man put his two-month-old child into someone else’s arms so he can try to help make sure that the doomed aircraft he is riding on is not used as a flying bomb.

The kind of love that makes a firefighter run into a teetering skyscraper in the hope that he can rescue the people trapped inside, only to have that building collapse on him and more than a hundred of his brother firefighters.

The kind of love that allows another firefighter to shrug off his injuries, saying, “Whadya expect? I’m a New Yorker!” and then burst into tears, thinking of his fallen buddy, who has ten children.

The kind of love that creates a convoy of physicians and nurses heading for New York City, riding in Ambulances and their own vehicles, not knowing how much help they can be, but just wanting to help.

The kind of love that causes people the country over to stop and give blood, because that’s the only way they can help.

The kind of love that permits a community like ours to put aside everything to come together and stand against those who would harm our own.

This country, and the free world beside us, stands shocked and dismayed. We are angry, and justifiably so. We have been attacked by people with no desire but to make us afraid, to make us hurt, perhaps even to make us hate the way they do. Maybe they do this because they know no other way; I personally do not care for thier motives. I know that whatever thier ultimate goals, they have failed already. They attempted to sow fear, and instead reaped heroism.

We are dealing with people who will die in order to kill, so great is their hate. But they are dealing with a people who will give their lives to save the lives of people they don’t even know, so great is our love.

In the end, how can they possibly stand against that?