Yesterday, on September 11 of 2013, I had the privilege of attending an event sponsored by Hope Worldwide to celebrate and honor our first responders. I can honestly say that this event changed my perspective on life and my definition of a hero. A quote by Romain Rolland perfectly summed up the night. Rolland simply writes, “A hero is a man who does what he can.”

The event began with a documentary called “Boatlift: An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience.” This documentary, narrated by Tom Hanks, tells a story of the largest sea evacuation in history. Nearly 500,000 civilians were rescued in less than nine hours. After the first tower fell, panic engulfed lower Manhattan. It was said that the dust was unbearable. One man remarked that the human beings emerging from the fog looked like zombies. Thousands of people rushed to lower Manhattan but they were trapped. Boats seemed to be their only way out. Every other mode of transportation out of Manhattan was shutdown. At that time, the coast guard made a call on the radio to ask all local boats to assist in the evacuation of lower Manhattan. On that day, hundreds of heroes on private boats, ferries and tug boats rushed to rescue their fellow Americans who begged “please don’t leave us!”

September 11, 2001 was a day that I can hardly remember for I was only four years old. But at the event they related this tragedy to the Marathon Bombings that took place in Boston on April 15, 2013. This day, on the other hand I can relate to very well, as I happened to be in Boston cheering on one of my close friends. At the celebration, they spoke of the countless heroes who again acted out of the kindness of their hearts to help strangers. I was particularly inspired when it was said that you cannot train every citizen for an incident like this. It was just people doing what they had to do. As the president of FEMA, the police chief of Boston and countless others spoke of their experiences dealing with disasters, they emphasized that it is impossible to overcome the effects of a tragedy without the help of the people. Everywhere they have gone and every disaster they have responded to, it has been the people who have come together to help one another. And through these disasters and awful acts of terrorism, we the people become the heroes.

In class this past week, we discussed how Americans have been brainwashed similar to characters of Brave New World. We are often led to believe that being an American is something great and a privilege. After talking about many mistakes made by Americans in the past and even today with the issue in Syria, I still believe that being an American is something special because even in times of panic and total chaos we the people work together and help each other. We become heroes. So yes, though we too are brainwashed, as I was waving my American flag and signing along to John Legend’s song “If You’re Out There” I was proud to be an American.

Work Cited

"BOATLIFT - An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience (HD Version)." YouTube. YouTube, 06 Sept. 2011. Web. 12 Sept. 2013.