I believe in firemen
who march into collapsing buildings
aware of the risk, but taking the risk anyway.
I believe in airline passengers
who spend their last moments on earth
using their cell phones to leave messages
on answering machines to say "I love you".
I believe in disk jockeys
who stop broadcasting off color humour and sports-narrow-mindedness
for weeks of sober coverage which eschews sensation.
I believe in newspapermen in Paris
whose morning headline reads "We are all Americans".
I believe in neighbors
who offer to take people shopping
who otherwise might be harrassed based on ethnicity or clothing choices.
I believe in car rental customers
who drive strangers hundreds of miles
when the airlines run dry.
I believe in viewers,
caught up in a deafening silence
who watch, aghast,
and sometimes pray.
I believe in commentators,
speaking in clear, somewhat hushed tones
too moved to quip as the world crashes one tower at a time.
I believe in artists
who place hundreds of empty chairs
in a memorial to represent
day care workers, government employees, and
the random unlucky,
bombed by domestic terrorists.
I believe in animal rescuers
who help ensure storm-displaced pets
live through tragic misfortune.
I believe in politicians in the north
who cede entire swaths of land
to remedy in smallest measure
the grim heritage of the past.
I believe in musicians
who rally to restore musical instruments
to the center of a sound.
I believe in teachers
who lead reading circles
in places where books are banned.
I believe in traders
who only want to buy from people paid a fair wage,
and who want to end the cycle of exploitation.
I believe in researchers
who test new cures
yet place their findings in the public domain.
I believe in soldiers
who drive bomb-laced streets in hostile countries
in inadequate vehicles bought at great expense from profiteers
while their families wait at home on food stamps,
because these soldiers promised to do their duty, and they do it as well
as they can.
I believe in people
who can rebut the worst fear
confirm the greatest hope
and remind me,
when I least expect it,
what power lies in the possibilities of
the human choice to do the right thing.