email279.xml

email279.xml

born-digital

email

unknown

yes

2002-08-19

I live in Northern Alabama and this message was forwarded to me from a friend. This was written by a man in NYC regarding our police officers who had volunteered to assist in NYC:


Dear Staff of Huntsville Times:
>>
>>I do a lot of writing for national publications, but I never thought I

>>would write anything about the wonderful police of Madison, Alabama.
This
>>piece is yours to use if you like it.
>>
>>Steven M. Gorelick
>>New York City
>>
>>The Cops from Madison, Alabama
>>Steven M. Gorelick
>>October 3, 2001
>>I wondered when I would finally feel the sadness. I wondered why other

>>New Yorkers I passed in the streets of Manhattan looked so pained
while I
>>felt so numb. I really began to wonder if I was human.. I felt nothing
at
>>all. Nothing.
>>It started several days after the sky fell on September 11th, when I
>>looked out my living room window in Westfield, New Jersey and saw
friends
>>and family visiting the pregnant wife of a 31 year-old man who was
>>missing in the rubble. I tried hard to cry, but -- as much I would
like
>>to say I felt courage and resolve -- what I really felt was an almost
>>paralyzing fear brought on by the sheer audacity of the acts.
>>At work in Manhattan, I found it even harder to feel pain and sadness:
I
>>work across from the Empire State Building, and that building s new
>>status as New York City s tallest skyscraper gave all of us in the
>>surrounding neighborhood a case of the jitters. It s hard to feel sad
>>when you keep looking up at the sky waiting for something to come
>>crashing down.
>>Several days later my wife and I attended an interfaith service. I
passed
>>a sign with the names of a number of those from my hometown who had
been
>>lost. So many were parents of young children. I could feel a little
lump
>>forming in my throat. But I still could not cry.
>>The pent-up emotions finally hit like a ton of bricks when I least
>>expected it: I was out walking in front of the Empire State Building.
I
>>wanted to simply be in the presence of the New York City police
officers
>>now guarding that building. And as I got closer, I saw that the
building
>>s entrance was being protected by police officers from Madison,
Alabama.
>>And I lost it. I ran upstairs to my office and finally shed the tears
>>eluded me for three weeks.
>>You have to understand. Most New Yorkers are hopelessly provincial,
still
>>living with the illusion that they live at the center of the universe,
as
>>if this wonderful complex, diverse universe could even have a center!
>>Some are even still fighting the civil war, with a view of the south
that
>>is as up to date as a Matthew Brady photograph. I know people who
never
>>even leave Manhattan, as if -- having found paradise -- they have no
>>reason to go anywhere else.
>>Yet there they were out in front of the Empire State Building, a group
of
>>wisecracking, cynical New Yorkers who had surrounded these officers
and
>>were looking at them with the reverence usually reserved for members
of
>>the clergy. And these big, strong, confident reassuring police
officers
>>from a place that no one had ever heard of were actually calming the
>>nerves of people who had seen things that no one should see and felt
>>things that no one should feel.
>>I don t know where Madison Alabama is. I don t know how many people
live
>>there. I don t know what petty disputes are currently being fought out
in
>>its City Council, but I bet some group of citizens has been making a
lot
>>of noise lately about the lack of a stop light at some especially
>>congested corner. I don t know if there is a peaceful river that runs
>>through town or a lake where you can fish and swim. I don t know where
in
>>town you can taste the best barbecue and I certainly don t know a soul

>>that lives there.
>>But I do know that on a fine sunny day in my hometown, three weeks
after
>>it seemed like the world was collapsing around us, a bunch of
courageous
>>and compassionate cops from Madison Alabama were just what we needed
at
>>precisely the moment we needed it.
>>To the good and decent people of Madison: Thanks you for your sending
us
>>your bravest and finest. Just the sight of their Madison shoulder
patch
>>and the decency and confidence they demonstrated gave me an incredible

>>dose of hope that -- whatever comes along -- our almost instinctive
>>compassion as a nation will overcome any adversary.
>>And do me a favor: Promise that the someone from Madison -- wherever
it
>>is -- will get in touch with me the next time a river overflows (is
there
>>a river nearby?), the next time a fire leaves some people homeless,
the
>>next time -- God forbid -- that a place of such obvious kindness and
>>decency has its reckoning with pain and loss. I d love to help.
>>Steven Gorelick teaches sociology and media studies at the City
>>University of New York.

10/09/01

The Police of Madison, AL