What else can be said about the past week and a few days that hasn’t already been said?  It is still like a dream that I have to awaken from.  But having to do a job for 10 or 12 hours a
day of just talking about the attacks on America has forced me to be very analytical and somewhat detached for the most part. 

Like the little boy who put his finger in the hole in the dike, I am beginning to feel as if I have about run out of fingers to plug the leakage of emotion.

I cannot go anywhere and not see candles on the street, red white and blue ribbons, or flags on cars, tee shirts or poles.  I wasn’t raised as a flag waver — in fact it was quite the opposite. I was taught that nationalism was not a good thing.  But for the first time that I can remember, I heard the National Anthem played last week and I cried. 

As I stood among other men and women who I thought were as hardcore and fearless as I was, the mutterings of the words could be heard “o’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming . . . .” Thinking about that moment at this moment still brings me to tears.

This is the beginning of a new era for all of us. Before last week, we enjoyed the luxuries of our freedom and said anything we wanted to about any topic or issue without having to really pay any price for it.  In many countries, government service is mandatory . . . not the case in the U.S. 

I imagine that this week and in the future nothing will change here, despite the tremendous pressure that will be brought to bear in many quarters to change the way of life here. We will, for the most part, still be able to enjoy all the benefits of being a free-range citizen – but make no mistake, we are all citizen-soldiers now.

Whether we like it or not, the events of the last week have forever changed our place in society. We are no longer just ordinary people trying to make a living and feed our families. We must all now be vigilant and willing, when necessary, to fight for the safety of our families and others.

We have been called — not by our own government, by our family or even by God.  We have been brought into this by a misguided millionaire, many miles away from here.  He hates you and me, even though we have done nothing to him.  His name is Osama Bin Laden.

In a 1998 interview, Osama Bin Laden told a reporter he made no distinction between soldiers and men, women or even children who are non-combatants. He said that all who benefit from United States policies should be subjected to the wrath of the people who he says are oppressed by it.  Bin Laden had no problems with U.S. policies when he took money and arms to fight the Soviet Union in the late 70s and early 80s, but during the Gulf War, he saw U.S. soldiers on Saudi Arabian land as some kind of sacrilege and declared what he called a “Saqua” . . . that means “Holy War.” 

After years of planning and previous failed attempts to bring this war to our shores, a plan finally succeeded . . . one that has killed thousands of people and could have killed thousands more. 

I believe that if it were not for the actions of some daring people on Flight 93, the count of the dead and wounded would be higher. It’s believed that after hearing about what was going on around them in the skies, those passengers decided . . . on Primary Day  . . . to vote.

They voted to take charge of their fate. 

They voted on an action that would cause that plane to crash in an open field – killing no one but their hijackers . . . and themselves.

If we are to get back to a normal life here, we have to know that we are now soldiers and we have to be unafraid to make certain sacrifices.  Not for that “rah-rah” red, white and blue, but for the safety and sanctity of our lives and our families.

If I get on a plane, or bus and someone says they have a bomb, they will have to just use whatever they have . . . right then. I have to assume that they might use the vehicle I’m in to hurt someone in my family.

I had family in the WTC that day and I thank God they made it out. But now this is — and forever will be — personal.

I raise my hand and form my fingers to the symbolic “V,” but not for victory.

Move those fingers closer together, make them look like the towers, and think or say “remember the twins.” Know that we are in a fight that may bring us even more pain.

We should not forget that before last week many of us were at odds with the establishment. Unemployment, racial profiling, unequal access to education should not be forgotten – and these are still our fights. 

But like so many before us who have hoped for the same, let us commit to putting differences aside and coming together.  In that process, we may learn more about each other – and when the time comes to pick up the gauntlet again to resolve our internal problems, we may find our adversaries less adversarial.

— Gary Anthony Ramsay is a weekend anchor
and journalist on the all-news
cable station NY1 and along-time resident of Queens.