I woke up around 8:30am on Tuesday morning for no apparent reason at all. It wasn't because I was fully rested, oh no. I had only gone to bed 3 hours earlier. I woke up and felt something was wrong. I got up and went in to my bathroom where whenever I turn on the light, National Public Radio always turns on. I stood there looking in the mirror and realized that the reporters on the radio were talking about some sort of tragedy. I quickly ran to turn on my TV and saw the horrible s of New York City and the twin World Trade Center towers on fire. I was stunned...

For the rest of the day I was glued to the television, flipping from just about every channel that was covering it. Even channels like ESPN, Home Shopping Network, QVC, MTV, VH1, and just about every other channel on TV had some sort of coverage.

It was surreal watching what was happening. I sat in horror and watched both builidings collapse, knowing that they were both still filled with innocent people. I also thought about all the firemen who had gone into the buildings before they collapsed.

I know the United States has it's faults and it's own skeletons in it's closet. I can understand how people in other countries can disagree with us. I know we are not all perfect. But I am proud of my country and I am outraged that this sort of thing could of happened here. Americans are naive to this sort of thing as we have two huge oceans protecting us from threats like this. It is now a new, smaller world where attacks aimed towards the United States are actually possible. I am sick at how a group of cowards can take over a plane with innocent passengers in it and fly into a building filled with other innocent people. That cannot be justified. Some are claiming that this is Pearl Harbor 2... but at least they knew back then who the enemy was.

I thought the following email I received today was touching. It was done by a Canadian journalist:

Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text of his broadcast.

"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth.

Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When France was in danger of collapsing in1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help.

This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.

The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.

I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them?

Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes?

Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios.

You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon - not once, but several times - and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.

I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those."