When tragedy strikes, you will not be alone. From a massive war and losing thousands of lives, to an accident that only takes one, there will be a hand to pull you up, make you strong when you are weak, push you forward when you are at a standstill, and give you hope when it seems impossible to reach.

Americans may act as if they only care about themselves, but when the time actually comes, they are there. When a mother loses her baby in an accident, she won’t be alone. Condolences are paid by people who she has never even met, let alone heard of. A cross will be built for his memorial and candles will be lit to remember his life. People come together. We may want things for ourselves, but everything is dropped when one person is lost, or someone is in pain. We won’t let them stand alone.

It’s claimed that Americans only want money and don’t care about stepping on people to get to their goal. How is it then, that America is running a national debt to trillions of dollars, yet we are donating thousands and thousands of dollars to countries and families and all others before we solve our problems? It’s not even relevant to say that the U.S. doesn’t care, because they will be first on rescue call for people they don’t know.

4,433: the number of casualties of U.S. soldiers in the war over in the Middle East. What does that show? We’ve been trying to rebuild people’s lives and help them start over from being controlled their entire lives, and there are soldiers dying for them. Selfishness can’t even be taken into effect. It’s ingrained in our brains as we grow up in America. We want to help others. It’s in our blood. It’s who we are and what kind of people we are.
So why are people in our own country against our military? Any kind of bet could be made to say that the hatred stems from fear. A protester may have lost a father in combat; a picketer could have lost her best friend who was flying a plane in the Air Force. However, a lot of times it’s a normal American who may have no connection to war at all; they just don’t understand what’s happening overseas. Obviously our soldiers knew what they were getting themselves into as they enlisted; they wanted to help their country. They had that gut feeling that we all have when we know someone’s in need. We aren’t going to let people cry and scream looking for their family because they were separated when a bomb went off. We lend a hand to pick someone up.

Our hearts may be made of gold, but our exterior is composed of steel. Some events have become unimportant to us. As long as it doesn’t affect us personally or give us credit, we keep walking. There’s a motorcycle on the side of the road smashed to pieces and a man in a car, drives by, realizes he doesn’t know the boy, and keeps driving. He thinks to himself, <i>thank God that’s not my son<i>. Well, that was someone else’s son, someone else’s best friend, someone else’s world. We have a hard shell that needs to be cracked. Once it’s shattered, our hands are only there to hold. We aren’t perfect after all.

We will hug someone new, hold a stranger’s hand, and cry with people we don’t like when the time has come. Hard heads are here and there and don’t care about if someone else’s family has dinner or not, but in all, America will be there. We will be your shoulder; we will be your 911 call; we will be your hope and faith.