Fox 2 News anchor-reporter Roop Raj, who joined the local station in May 2009, reported from the site of America's worst mass shooting. On social media, he posts "reflections from my three days in Vegas." (Shared with permission.)
By Roop Raj
Incredible strength in the midst of great pain -- that's what makes this nation incredible.
Americans are great not because someone says we are, thinks we are or because we want to be. Americans are great because of what is inside of us and what comes out at the toughest times.
Roop Raj in Las Vegas, where he saw "incredible strength even in the midst of pain."
I witnessed this while in Las Vegas this week.
Kyle Darin makes this country what it is. The native Detroiter was driving as he heard news of the mass shooting. He drove to, not away from the massacre and opened his car to load up fellow Americans who had been shot. He used towels as tourniquets to stop the bleeding. That's incredible strength found in great pain.
Toni Mullan makes this country something to admire. The Dearborn native is a supervisor at the Level One trauma center in Las Vegas. She credits her time at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit for making her the nurse she is. I called her a hero for saving hundreds of lives. She refused to accept the title. "The real heroes are the Americans who have survived this massacre and those who have to wake up without their loved ones. They are the heroes."
Humility is what makes this country great. Toni Mullan embodies this.
Love makes this country beautiful. Instead of trampling on one another after chaos broke out, wounded Americans went to their knees to lift up people who had fallen.
No red. No blue. No politics. It was incredible strength even in the midst of pain.
That's what makes me proud to be an American. This is what makes this nation incredible, beautiful and strong.
My heart and prayers are with the people of Las Vegas and all the victims who were hurt. May they all find incredible strength in this pain. It's what we are made of.
