For those of you who know me well, know that I have little faith in humanity. It’s been my view that people are self-serving, only concerned about themselves. In a matter of days, that’s all changed.

I have a renewed faith in the human spirit. The response by the citizens of New York has been nothing short of miraculous. It fills my heart with pride the way that the people of New York has responded to the crisis. The firefighters who refused medical help, for fear of being pulled from Ground Zero. The medical personnel who risked everything to help those in need. The 1.4 million people who have called the Red Cross wanting to volunteer. The 1.2 million people who wanted to donate blood. The thousands of people who’ve donated money through the various charities. I heard stories of people here, in the Bay Area, waiting in line for 5 hours just to have the opportunity to give blood.

The last few days have extremely emotional to me. Tears well in my eyes when I see the coverage of the people gathering together for candlelight vigils. The sight of members of Congress singing God Bless America made me feel the same way. And that’s not just cause most of them are tone deaf.

The solidarity that Americans are showing is astounding. The tremendous faith of the American people is refreshing to me. For a country who seemed to me moving away from spirituality and religion, the amount of people turning out in force to attend services gives me great comfort. I attended prayer services at my Church last Friday and I was amazed by the amount of people who were there. The solemn Church had people of all races, and age. All brought together by a common grief and sorrow. And today, during 9am mass, there was a crowd of people there of a size which I had not seen since last Easter. Amazing.

Walmart reports that they have sold 250,000 flags over the last week. The NY Daily News and NY Newsday all had a two-page spread which contained an American flag, for those unable to purchase one. The patriotism expressed by the citizens of this great country is unprecedented.

God Bless America.