We've all seen how America reacts to tragedy. Some of our finest moments as a nation are in the face of extreme adversity.
Emergency response workers and union members respond in droves over and over to help total strangers when tragedies strike.
People show up to help after national disasters. School children collect canned goods and clothes and hold fundraisers to help out.
Americans from all walks of life donate money to help ease the suffering of their fellow countrymen.
The media covers these things, but those of us who are sitting in our houses all over America are not surprised; we know where our hearts lie.
This article is not about that.
This is about one of the other things that make America what it is.
A few weeks ago, my daughter's cheer-leading team went to what is officially called the "Pop Warner Eastern Region Central Cheer Qualifier" and is basically our state championships.
They took first place.
That's not what this article is about either.
It's about the way that Americans respond to good things that happen.
It happens at the national level - world championships, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, stuff like that.
But it happens all the time in small towns everywhere.
Like a lot of other places, our Pop Warner league covers two towns in order to have enough kids.
That night, after finding out that our girls had won, the cell phone calls started. We all immediately dialed family and friends to share the good news. Our excitement and pride jammed the airways. One of those phone calls sparked the spontaneous show of support that our two little towns showed for 28 girls that most of them probably don't even know personally.
After hugging and screaming and jumping up and down it is hard to just go home and relax, so one of the coaches said, "Everybody meet at the high school and we're all going to go beeping."
A silly little exercise to blow off some steam and share some of our excitement. We all drove the 80 something miles back home with the intention of meeting up and having an impromptu little ragtag parade.
But, when we got to the high school, eight firetrucks, a police car and an ambulance were waiting for us.
In the hour and a half or so that it had taken us to drive home, around 30 of our amazing volunteer response workers had left their warm houses and televisions and Sunday football to drive our 28 little girls around in an amazing show of love and support.
They waited patiently while we all straggled in. They loaded our little girls into the trucks and they drove them around our two towns, lights flashing and sirens blaring.
Total strangers came out and waved, even though I am quite certain that most of them didn't even know what was going on.
All that they knew was that something good had happened to some of their own.
This is a ritual that gets repeated all over America all the time.
It happens after football games and opening day of little league.
It happens after soccer games and hockey championships and band competitions.
Silly?
To some.
Annoying?
Probably to lots of people.
Important?
Without a doubt.
It creates memories that will be carried with the honorees for their whole lives.
It connects us and lets us know that even when we think that we are alone, we belong to a community.
It reminds us that the good things matter as much as the bad things and it shows our children that hopes and dreams and achievements sometimes belong to everybody that wants to embrace them.
So thank you, to all of the amazing volunteers from Keyport and Union Beach, New Jersey who showed up that night and made 28 eleven and twelve years olds feel like Super Bowl Champions.
It meant way more than you know.
This intel first appeared on: http://hubpages.com/hub/Something-To-Cheer-About
