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2002-05-23

Attack on America

It was the beginning of my freshman year at Barker High School in New York when my attention was brought to a very serious issue. In my Global class we were learning about the current events in the Middle East. One in particular was on Afghanistan. We learned about an organization working for the government of Afghanistan that is the Taliban. They control the people living in the country. The people are not allowed to watch TV, listen to music, and much more. The leader of Afghanistan is against the United States and doesn't want promotion of the things that go on in the U.S. Also, the main religion is Islam. During that time there were eight jailed Christian workers in Afghanistan from the U.S. I knew that Afghanistan was a threat to us, but little did I know what was to come within the next couple of weeks.
At 10:12a.m. on September 11th I walked into my fourth period class English. I heard a bunch of clatter and different noises coming from the monitor in the classroom. As I looked up I saw smoke and two buildings that had collapsed. Everywhere you looked people were running and screaming. I had no idea what had just happened. I went to my seat where my friend Bethany sat next to me. I asked her what had just happened and she told me the World Trade centers had just collapsed. I didn't know what to think at first because unlike most people I didn't really know much about the towers. As we continued to watch CNN a newswomen spoke of what had happened. She mentioned that many people had died. Some had even jumped out of the building due to fright and shock. Next I saw a replay of a plane going through one tower and then one through the other a few minutes later. I learned that the planes had suicide bombers in them. Many innocent people in the plane had died. As the day went on I learned more about the attack. A plane had gone into the pentagon in Washington. It is believed that Osama Bin Laden planned the attack and the suicide bombers were from Afghanistan. It turns out that thousands had died in planes, the pentagon, and the towers. Once I realized how serious the attack was and how many people had died, I was shocked, saddened, Scared, and in disbelief. I never thought that something as horrible as the attack was could ever happen to us.
When I got home from school my mom was crying. She too had been upset due to the attack. Firefighters were searching for people that may be rescued. Many though were not found or were dead. It made me cry every time I heard people tell their stories on TV. One in particular was a story I heard on Oprah. A lady with long dark hair told her story. Her husband was flying home on a business trip the morning of the attack. The woman had been at work when she found out about the attack. When she got home she got a cell phone message from her husband that he had sent to her before the plane he was in crashed into the one tower. On the message he told her he didn't know what was going to happen but he loved her with all his heart. They played his message on Oprah.
I feel so bad for the families and friends who lost their loved ones in the attack. It makes me realize how often we take things for granted. Our nation became really patriotic buying flags and more. The song "I Am Proud To Be An American played on every radio. As weeks went by, the search continued to find the infamous Osama Bin Laden. Till this day they have not found him. He could be anywhere. The destruction of the trade towers is still being cleaned up.
Now comes an important question. Why would anyone want to do this to us? There are many answers to this question. One is global resentment. The United States has dominance over the world economy. Another reason is many people in Afghanistan don't like the way U.S. citizens act. They don't like our music, clothes, the shows we watch and much more. They don't like the freedom our people have. Afghanistan has a very low literacy rate and don't have freedom of press. There are many important things to consider for why they hate us. Since most people cant read in Afghanistan and don't have the Internet it is easy to persuade the people to believe one side of a story without hearing the other point of view. Another thing is children living in Afghanistan are taught to hate at a very young age. Last of all it is important to know that many people living in Afghanistan don't agree with the Taliban and don't support the attack on America.
Overall the attack on America has changed everyone's lives forever. Everybody will and has been affected in different ways. Younger generations will be taught about the attack on America. I think now our country has stuck together stronger than anytime before and shown great pride in our nation. I hope that we will continue to stay strong and that hopefully the world will be able to accept each other's nations and live in world peace.