Last night, I watched the first new episode of the Daily Show since the attacks on Sept 11th. For those of you who don't know what the Daily Show is, it is "the most important news show, ever." It's a satirical news program on Comedy Central that is one of the funniest and smartest shows I have seen in a long, long time.

I was intrigued to see what they were going to do, since so much of their material centers around making fun of Bush. What I got completely astounded me. Jon Stewart was utterly honest.

He opened the show asking if we were all ok, and they truely hope all of our loved ones are safe. He talked about how hard it has all been for them, and about how entertainment shows all seem to be opening with a message to talk about how hard it is to come back and be funny at a time like this. You could tell as he was talking, how upset he was. He was shaking, ever so slightly, and you could hear his voice quiver as he was about to cry.

He talked about how people are calling the terrorists extraordinary masterminds for managing to put together the coordinated attacks, but he didn't feel that way. His feelings went something like (paraphrased):

"Any fool can destroy. Any fool can kill. The firefighters and the police and all of the people from across the country who have come to help... those people are extrodinary."

He continued about how lucky they all feel to live in a country where they can openly satire the government and it's ok. He talked about if the show would change at all, because "subliminable" isn't a punchline anymore. He didn't know if it would change, but they are going to try to make it through.

He talked about if we as a country would get over this tragedy and he told a story of when he remembers Martin Luther King Jr. being shot. It went something like this (paraphrased):

"I remember when Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, I was five. I was in school and I remember because they turned off all the lights and told us to sit under our desks and gave us cottage cheese. We were just kids, so we were thinking 'Cool, we get to sit under our desks and eat cottage cheese!' We didn't know that there was a riot going on outside and that's why we couldn't leave the room. Some people think the whole attack was like a dream, but it wasn't. It was a harsh reality. The recovery afterwards is a dream realized. It was Martin Luther King's dream. These people helping out there have come together to help one another. (Jon starts to cry). We aren't judging people by the color of their skin, but by the strength of their character."

It took a bit of Jon to compose himself so he could keep talking. When he did, he talked more about the future. However, the bit (on the verge of crying) that will stay with me for a long time was this (paraphrased):

"The view from my apartment is..was the World Trade Center. But that's gone now. It's just gone. But do you know what I can see now? Do you know what has replaced it? The Statue of Liberty. The view from the south of Manhatten is now the Statue of Liberty. It doesn't get better than that."

Well done, Jon, and thank you.