"Ich bin ein Amerikaner"

November 11, 2001

by John F. Schmidt

A TV ad, of all things, showed me a change has occurred since September 11 that is deeply satisfying, and a sign of good things to come. The ad features people of all races and backgrounds and accents saying, “I” - “am” - “an American,” in various combinations of voices. It’s a good ad, sponsored by the Ad Council. I have always perceived such ads in the past as a form of manipulation: a kind of pathetic attempt to make something happen that wasn’t real.

September 11 changed that reality. The ad now strikes a chord in our hearts that rings loudly with realism. No matter whether a person is Black, White, Latino, Indian or Oriental; Liberal or Conservative, rich or poor, educated or not: we have all become the objects of hatred by terrorists just because we are Americans. They crashed planes occupied by average people of common American mix into tall buildings occupied by other people of that same racial and ethnic mix, and killed them all without regard to who they were except that they were Americans.

That awakened us to the fact we are Americans first and all those other things second. We may have many beefs with one another, but now that we are all being attacked together, without regard to any of the grievances we have with one another, it makes us remember who we are, and what we treasure in common.

I am a WASP. Or more correctly, I am an American, who happens to be white, of European ancestry and a Christian. It is refreshing to be reminded of the correct order of these things in such terrible circumstances, and to know that fellow Americans of other races, national origins and religions are standing with me, and I with them, in this crisis. I know also that I will stand with my fellow Americans from now on, reminded of our common bond. They will be there for me, too, I know.

That is the same chord John F. Kennedy touched in the hearts of wildly cheering Berliners when, in 1963, he spoke across the Berlin wall – an attack on the freedom of another people of another time by other evil men - and said ‘ich bin ein Berliner’- ‘I am a citizen of the same city as you – I am a Berliner’. With that statement he made their plight under the glowering threat of Soviet Communism his and America’s. He certified America’s solidarity with Berlin and with enslaved peoples everywhere. It was the high point of his presidency.

It was a great speech. It was a great moment. So is the moment in which we live now.

In a very fundamental way the terrorists did something I thought only God could do – unite us so that we put our grievances with one another on the back burner, and put our common bond with one another front and center. We became invested in one another’s plight and future, and we now stand shoulder to shoulder with one another regardless of our differences.

To be honest, I actually think God did do it. Not the terrorist’s acts, no, they are responsible for their own evil deeds. But God is able to plan for and allow the wicked deeds of men, and still turn them into much good. He permits evil, but He is not the Author of it, nor overcome by it. As we learn the way He really is, we find that even in the disciplines He allows in our lives, there is always a blessing too. This has been a blessing.

He allowed a wake up call to ring through to us. It will ring down the halls of time. Many condemnations will be made; but at least one great and good thing will be recorded as well: in our moment of national sorrow and grief we were welded together as one.

And it was good - real good.

Another World Trade Center will probably be built in time; the terrorists will be conquered; their unholy perversion of faith will be repudiated by good men everywhere, and we will fall to bickering among ourselves again, too, I am sure. But I think that at least for this generation, there will always be a warm remembrance and celebration of the fact that we, like JFK, were able to say to one another in our time of travail “Ich bin ein Amerikaner.”

__________________________________________

John F. Schmidt has written numerous articles over the last decade. Politically, he is an Alan Keyes-type Republican. Along with his wife, he has organized voter drives in Pennsylvania, and been active politically since the 1990 elections. His livelihood, until recently, was spent in automation engineering for a large global equipment manufacturing company, specializing in coal mining. WANB in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania hosted Schmidt's weekly talk radio program "Issues and Answers." His writing is intended to relate the headlines of today to the foundation of eternal truth - the Scriptures. He currently resides in Palm Beach County, Florida. Visit his website at: Inalienable-Rights.org

Send the author an E mail at Schmidt@ConservativeTruth.org.

For more of John's articles, visit his archives.