Voices are raised, money is donated and a great deal of lip service is paid to love of country: “you can’t tread on us,” and “I’d die to keep us free.” Militia members who weeks ago would have shot a federal agent if he came within miles of their homes are embracing those same agents in a common cause - the anger and hatred of those who would cause harm to the United States. Homosexuals and heterosexuals, bisexuals and asexuals gather in bars, singing and cheering the praises of “America, the Beautiful.”

There are tears in the eyes of everyone and the immediate gratification of compassion reigns supreme. There has been a rallying cry, and we as Americans have jumped to the beat and come out in favor of the land where we live. Perhaps it is simply that I have grown old or my impression of things is cloudier, but I fear we will fall back into our more traditional ways as soon as the smoke officially clears and life goes on as before.

We have become a generation of instant everything. We cannot order a cup of coffee without having a cell phone at our ear finding out what Muffy, Buffy, Bobby and Kevin are doing at that exact moment. God forbid we were out of the loop and found out an hour later Kevin had forgotten to button one of the buttons on his shirt and had been traumatized by it.

The problem I see arising is once we find out any piece of information, it becomes an event of the past. It is gone and no longer holds much importance or interest to us. We have demanded instantaneous everything, and this truly affects how we see the world. I believe this is something we must be careful of in our present situation.

When in history could you be standing in line to get coffee and see the World Trade Center being devastated on CNN as it happens? That actual sighting was so amazing, one could almost believe that it really wasn’t true. But that is where our existence now rests - everything immediate, everything quickly forgotten.

I am impressed by the number of people who have come to the aid of New York. I applaud those quiet individuals who never raise their voices as they now scream at the top of their lungs their love of America. I find it invigorating we have banded together to speak to the issue of America first and pride in the land where we live. If I look only straight ahead and gaze only at the flag, and volunteers shifting rubble, and people donating blood, and the money collected, and the hymns being sung; I can become an integral part of all of the patriotic fervor. I can sense the positive movement of the country and its desire to show the world a united front, espousing the ideals of freedom and democracy.

But this is only if I do not stray from the picture and start to think of the future when no outside forces are invading our soil and taking the lives of our citizens. What will it be like next year at this time? Will the heterosexual baseball team still carry on peaceful conversations with the homosexual team it confronts on the field of dreams? Will ministers stand together praying for members of each other’s congregations? Will those militiamen talk peacefully with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents at the local hangout? Or will we go back to business as usual?

I do not want to cast any aspersions on the activities we have seen in the past week, but I would hope the overwhelming feeling of compassion and being an American never stops. Instead of a tragedy like this making people want to donate blood, why not make it a normal activity of life? Every two months why can’t every individual put it on his or her calendar to donate blood? Instead of giving one’s whole paycheck to help the people in New York, why not make a constant and regular donation to a charity of your choice or the United Way? A long-term commitment would have more impact than a one-time shot. We have become a nation of immediacy and we need to take a much more long-term approach to life.

This was brought home to me only a few days ago when I drove to Flint. I got off Interstate 69, traveled north on I-475 and suddenly realized I was on the wrong expressway. I needed I-75. I quickly got off and found none of the southbound entrance ramps were open because of construction. Stopping at a gas station, I asked a lady for directions. She informed me it was a very circuitous route to where I was going and she and her husband would lead me there.

Almost 10 miles later, I arrived at my destination. I tried to pay the couple for their gas and received this reply from the husband: “I drove truck for 30 years and received a lot of help, this is my way of thanking people for all those acts of kindness.”

This couple epitomizes the American spirit I hope will spring from our recent tragedy and live for eons to come.

Craig Gunn is a communications director in the Department of Engineering whose column usually appears every other Wednesday. He can be reached at gunn@egr.msu.edu.