Hello, and welcome to the first installment of “Whitebear Sez!” This is where I sound off on things that interest me, or set me off. But enough intro. Time for the topic at hand.Normally, when you think about togetherness, you think of family and friends. Maybe you’re all snuggled up next to a warm cozy fire, or eating Thanksgiving dinner around a huge table, laughing at some lame joke just told. No? That’s not what you’re thinking? Well, how about some destruction? Does that strike you when you think of “togetherness?”In the past 4-5 years, our nation has been hit with some very big things, like hurricanes, terrorism, snipers, bad tribute songs, and war. These are heavy topics, and not many people like to talk about them too often, unless it’s about how bad they were. Everything is a “major event in our nation’s history,” depending on who you ask, and nothing good has come from these things.Well, I think that these tragedies aren’t bad at all. Quite the contrary. In fact, I think that the past few years have been our finest. Why is that? Because each of these “major events” have had the same outcome: the United States as a whole coming together to help one another. No matter what happens to us, we’re always there to help each other out when the hammer hits. Hurricane troubles? Not to worry. People will be there to help rebuild, donate money, and house victims faster than you can say “FEMA.” Remember 9/11? Of course you do. And you must of course remember all the firefighters, police officers, and ambulance workers (oh my!) working to keep everyone healthy. Not to mention all of the support that we received from other countries.Here’s an example of what I’m talking about: when 9/11 happened, I was in high school. I arrived at school, and people who had heard what happened (remember, it was kind of early in the morning when the planes hit) weren’t happy. But the other thing I noticed is that people were asking each other if they were ok, despite the fact that they were standing in front of each other, perfectly aware of the other’s health. At first, it struck me as weird, but as the days (and weeks) went by, I noticed that the caring didn’t end. People I had once known as bitter and mad all the time were actually acting quite the opposite. People were caring for one another, and it was good, despite the fact that two very large buildings had come crumbling down.My point, folks, is that tragedies are exactly what they sound like: tragic. But if we can get past the ickiness and the bad tribute songs, we can get to the things that follow: caring, understanding, and of course, togetherness.