Israel responded immediately by sending an expert rescue team to the U.S., as it
has done to other countries in time of disaster. For a country of its size, and
battling its own terrorist threat on a daily basis, it is to be commended.
Alice Milner
MBARR wrote:
> This item has been making the rounds of various e-mail systems, and
> I think one correction is in order. Although the writer stated that no one
> has ever come to the aid of Americans during times of disaster, I remember
> that when the Midwest suffered severe flooding several years ago, the people
> of Bangladesh sent $2,000 to help the American farmers. Two thousand
> dollars may not sound like a big amount if you live in the United States.
> It's a huge amount if you live in Bangladesh. It was a tremendously moving
> gesture that I will never forget.
>
> Melissa Barr
> Cuyahoga County Public Library
> Maple Heights, OH
> mbarr@cuyahoga.lib.oh.us
>
> TRIBUTE TO THE UNITED STATES
>
> This, from a Canadian newspaper, no less, is worth sharing.
>
> America: The Good Neighbor.
>
> Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a
> remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a
> Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text of
> his
> trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional
> Record:
>
> "This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as
> the
> most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the
> earth.
>
> Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were
> lifted
> out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of
> dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries
> is
> today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United
> States.
>
> When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the
> Americans
> who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled
> on
> the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
>
> When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that
> hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were
> flattened
> by tornadoes.
>
> Nobody helped.
>
> The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars
> into
> discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing
> about the decadent, warmongering Americans.
>
> I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over
> the
> erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any
> other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo
> Jet,
> the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they
> fly
> them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American
> Planes?
>
> Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman
> on
> the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios.
> You
> talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk
> about
> American technocracy, and you find men on the moon - not once, but
> several times and safely home again.
>
> You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the
> store
> window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not
> pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them,
> unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars
> from ma and pa at home to spend here.
>
> When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down
> through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the
> Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody
> loaned
> them an old caboose. Both are still broke.
>
> I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of
> other
> people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else
> raced
> to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help
> even
> during the San Francisco earthquake.
>
> Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is
> damned
> tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this
> thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to
> thumb
> their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present
> troubles. I
> hope Canada is not one of those."
>
> Stand proud, America!
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