11/19/01

SEPT. 11 WOUNDED US, BUT IT MAY ALSO BRING US CLOSER THAN EVER

By LEWIS BARKER

A recent New Yorker cartoon had a sophisticated socialite commenting that he was having a hard time dealing with his newfound feelings of patriotism. I've never been that sophisticated. For most of my adult life, on more occasions than I care to admit, I've been downright embarrassed by eyes that unexpectedly filled with tears to such words as "God Bless America, land that I love" or ". . . the Star-Spangled Banner yet wave . . ."

Since Sept. 11, many of us are having new thoughts and feelings about what it means to be an American. Allow me to share an incident on my first flight after the Twin Towers tragedy.

Flight travel had become a predictable national routine. So, like other travelers I resented that the early arrival time required by new regulations at the Atlanta airport added to a long early morning drive from Auburn.

After arriving at the remote parking lot, a van to the terminal slowly accumulated its yawning travelers and their luggage. On board, scanning this random band of fellow Americans, I wondered if they also felt uncomfortable about flying. Were they also profiling? Was the van more quiet than usual?

I listened in on the conversation of an immaculately dressed elderly black couple sitting next to me. The man half-mockingly wondered why his partner needed all these bags. She played out the ritual by shushing him.

On the opposite seat, an African-American and his college-aged son were more casually dressed. The son asked what other clothes his Pop had brought on their trip. Pop said he had brought jeans for every occasion. Deep guttural laughter, shuckin' and hand slaps.

And then it hit me. I liked these people. I didn't know them, but I liked them. These people whose skin differed from mine were safe as well as friendly. If anyone was scanning this van for terrorists, they most certainly weren't here. What we had here were fellow Americans.

I wanted to embrace them. I wanted to tell them we're OK. That as a nation, we're going to get through this together.

Did they share the same sentiments? Did they also believe blacks, whites, and browns might now be allowed to think better thoughts about each other, maybe be better friends and neighbors, because Sept. 11 happened? Did others, that morning, recognize that we multi-hued Americans were all in this van together?

I didn't say anything. I just listened, enjoyed, vicariously communed with them, and felt secure in our brief time together.

My journey was uneventful. Life goes on, though less certain.

A familiar refrain will allow me to recall the feelings I enjoyed on that van ride from a remote lot at the Atlanta airport: ". . . and crown thy good, with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea."

I've become used to eyes that now so frequently fill with tears.

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(Barker is professor and chair of Auburn University's Department of Psychology.) # # #

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Note to editors: This article previously ran in the Waco (Texas) Tribune