A Childhood Memory Vanishes
by Donald Castellucci, Jr.

Like many of you, I am still shocked by the recent events in New York City and Washington. I grew up in northern New Jersey, and seeing the New York City skyline everyday is something you take for granted. The Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, the Twin Towers, and the Statue of Liberty are and always will be entrenched in my memory. 

 I was planning on this month's column to be about a little known mayor from Jersey City, New Jersey.  I was born there and grew up in the next city over called Union City. Both have been in the news because some of the terrorists on the planes resided in Jersey City and there are reports that some of the suspects being sought reside in Union City. Believe me, my stomach turns when I think about it - especially after the first bombing of the twin towers where again, the terrorists resided in Jersey City.

 A year or so before my dad died in 1997 I called him and said, "Guess what. In case you didn't know there is a Republican Mayor in Jersey City, named Bret Schundler." He replied, "Right, there hasn't been a Republican Mayor in over 40 years." Grinning from ear to ear I brought him the proof! I told him of the things he was doing, (my dad was a closet Republican, he just didn't know it!) and why it was good for the area he lived in for 40 years and me for 15. My guess is he will be the next Governor of New Jersey. The headline in the July 2nd issue of Human Events read Schundler Rolls to Massive Victory. The sub-headline read Pro-Tax Cut, Pro-Life Conservative Crushes New Jersey GOP Establishment. He recently won the New Jersey primary against a "moderate" Republican and the establishment choice. He has proven again when you stick to the core Republican philosophies you win!  Watch the New Jersey Governor's race. It will be a gauge to future national elections.

 I remember another conversation I had with my dad in 1977. I said,  "Thank God we live here now.  If New York City comes under nuclear attack we are safe as compared to being five miles away." (200 miles being a safe haven!)  I had just read something that said if you were outside 60-90 miles away from a nuclear attack you could survive. In my dad's normal way of letting the air out a balloon he informed me not to get too comfortable because the Binghamton area was on the top ten list of locations to hit because of IBM, GE, and Singer Link. So much for security!

 Well neither one of us envisioned what has unfolded before our eyes the last few weeks. I personally take offense because a childhood memory has vanished. When I was 12 years old I remember those buildings being erected. As time went on, they would get higher and higher until they were finally completed. It is something I will never forget. I will never be able to take my children to the top now, but watching them being built is a memory that will never leave my mind - just like the pictures of the planes that brought them to the ground.

 There is always something good to take from a situation though. The comradery of the country is always a positive thing, even if only for a short time. Let me list a couple of things I find that maybe, just maybe, this event might be the wake up call America needed.

 The most positive event happened in every corner of this country from your house to the White House and every public and private building in between. Yes, God was called upon everywhere. No cries from the ACLU or the atheists. No rumbles about twisting the Constitution and separation of church and state. We were born on the premise of a Judeo-Christian Society and while we all have the right to serve our own God there was wake up call given to this country and its people. Did God send his people the wake up call?

 Racism disappeared at least for a while. Rescuers weren't worried about nationalities or races. Their goal was to get people out. Citizens throughout New York and Washington blurred all racial lines and helped each other.  Amazing how that can happen when the race baiters are kept out of the equations. Americans helping Americans - if it can happen in a tragedy it can happen everyday. 

 We are by now starting to get back to normal. There will be many tough issues to be dealt with now. Maybe people will listen when talk of immigration controls and border security rise.  Maybe people will listen when it is said the military is not a project to implement politically correct social rules.  Maybe just maybe people will now get engaged and find out what the United Nations, China and alike have in store for our children's future. Benjamin Franklin was asked at the end of the Constitutional Convention, "What have you wrought?" His reply, "A Republic, if you can keep it."

 For me a memory might have disappeared but you can't let these terrorists put fear in your heart. On July 4, 1993, the Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, the UN Building, and other targets were suppose to be blown up.  On July 4, I was in the Lincoln Tunnel with my family on the way to fireworks night at Shea Stadium. My son was barely one year old then.  Since then we have been to New York many times. Mets games mostly, the Statue of Liberty, the American Museum of Natural History, and other places. Never let them win the fear game because when you do, they win the battle. Our next trip to New York will include a trip to the top of Empire State Building. When we get there I will point my son and daughter to my old neighborhood across the river. No terrorist can take that away. Don't let them win!