I've been riveted to the TV ever since Sept 11th. I'll never forget when my mother phoned that morning telling me to turn on the TV. It was early, about 6 a.m. I thought she wanted to talk about the upcoming demonstration protesting the Latin Grammies that afternoon. The day before I had been involved in two television interviews about an anti-Castro demonstration, which was scheduled that very afternoon. I had stumbled into these interviews really; it should have been my father but it seemed that now I was the official spokesman denouncing Cuba's participation in the Latin Grammies. Andy Warhol was right, I kept thinking. Except that instead of 15 minutes of fame, it was more like 15 seconds.
I couldn't believe what I was watching and still have a hard time believing what really happened. I remember watching the second airplane hitting the tower and to this day, I don't know if what I was watching was live or a re-play. It was on all the channels, people running all over the place. And then the buildings came down. At first it seemed like just some dirt or powder but then you could see the building shrinking and the plume of smoke getting bigger and bigger, when right there in front of my eyes two buildings just collapsed. I had never seen anything like it, never had seen policemen running away, covered in dust, scared to death. You could tell that the people on the streets were in shock. I remember this fireman and a paramedic covered in gray dust and this black woman with beautifully braided hair holding a handkerchief over her mouth also covered in dust from head to toe in shock being helped by another man. It was something to see. Then the Pentagon was struck, and later another plane went down in Pennsylvania. I remember thinking what the hell is happening! Who could do this s...t? ... It was a hell of a day!
They said immediately that things would never be the same in America. At first, I didn't understand what they meant. I do now. This country has never been hit like this, not ever. Not even Pearl Harbor was this devastating. At least that was aimed at our ships, not our people. So now we have a new vocabulary Osama Bin Laden, Taliban, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kabul, Northern Alliance, our old friend Saddam Hussein. Caves are now the target, biochemicals, homeland security, wall to wall coverage, and smart bombs (That's a scary thought).
We are also seeing a different America too. Flags all over the place, crime is down, Americans calling for action, Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians, everybody. We all know these guys are Equal Opportunity Killers who don't care, who just want to kill Americans any place, anyhow, anywhere and as many as they can, using anything they can get their hands on... commercial airliners full of people, biological and nuclear weapons, crop dusters, box cutters, anything.
They've done a lot of damage, these people. They got us to shut down airports, borders, stop ships from coming in. But with all that, our hands are not tied. We have responded with a vengeance. And our spirit? Forget it! We have rallied together. We have joined hands, joined forces, and we have found our common ground. What is good and wonderful about America is in the forefront of our minds and no one has to dig too deep to uncover its blessings. We all have much to be thankful for and much to give.
I remember one of the most moving experiences in my life was at the "Swearing In" ceremony when I became an American Citizen. I had already been in the U.S. most of my life, but this room was full of rookies, people from all over the world north, south, east, and west. As soon as they said, "You are now an American Citizen," the emotions charged up the room. It was really something to see... to be an American.
I also remember what it was like coming to this country from Cuba at 10 years old, not speaking the language, and with no one to greet us at the airport, no family here. All we were allowed to take out of Cuba was basically what we were wearing. My father had a shoemaker friend hollow out a hole in the heel of my shoe and put $100.00 in it. If they would have found the American currency, he would have gone to jail or would have been kept from leaving the country ...and I'd be left with only one shoe. That's how we got here, my father, my mother, four kids and my mother 8 months pregnant, with really nothing to offer this country, and it still it took us in. The refugee center in Miami said, "Come this way," and we did, and we were safe. After that, for some reason or another, the First Baptist Church of Alhambra sponsored our family and brought us to California. They gave us a place to live, filled the cupboards full of food and the closets full of linens, and we have lived here and prospered and produced a bunch more kids and grandkids.
That's why I want to do something. Right now my country is bleeding all over the place. I always liked the phrase "that aint no mountain for a climber" and "we'll come through this better and stronger." If anyone has any doubts about that, study a little history. We have a long resume of paying the price. If it weren't for America, there wouldn't be a synagogue anywhere in the world. Or if the Soviet Union had had their way, there wouldn't be any churches or mosques either. And we'd be naming our kids Vladimir like they did in Cuba. Imagine that! Mikhail Talleda. That's Crazy!
