nmah1068.xml

nmah1068.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-05

It had seemeed like a normal day, just like any other. My family and I don't watch the news in the morning, but Icould tell that something was up at the beginning of school. Everyone had been whispering, trying to talk to people what had gone on. Then, one of my friends had told me that the two twin towers in New York City had been crashed into by planes that had been hijacked by Afghanistan. All day long in the classes, our teacher had the news on for us to watch. The tape of the twin towers collapsing was played over and over again on each news channel, and it was played constantly in my head too. All day long, everyone seemed to be so worried, as was I. I came home to find a newspaper with a large "America Under Attack" heading. The news went late into the night, and continued on through the morning. Every one of the channels had news broadcasts on it. Everyone was afraid we were all in danger.

My life has changed greatly since September 11th. I have noticed that people are always flying american flags, God Bless America signs, and even going through the trouble to make sure half of the merchandise sold through the U.S. is red, white, and blue! I have gained a greater love for my country than I ever thought possible since September11th. I have an even higher respect for or firemen and police officers. I have found that some other people have also started loving our beloved country more and more. But there has also been what I think is alot more racism...many natural Americans seem to think they're better or higher than maybe Arab-Americans or Japenese-Americans. And if everyone here loves ou country so much, how come they can't keep it clean of polition? Yet, September 11th, I believe, has brought the people of our great societies much closer together. People are respecting our country, and in some cases, expecting eachother more than before the attack.

I think that, rather than remembering how awful and inconsiterate the enemies are, we should probably be thinking about how much better we can be as citizens of this country. We shouldn't remember how much of an awful death each of the victims recieved, we should remember how much of a wonderful life that each of them might of lived. Things might be better if we're all striving towards the same goal of peace, of maybe breaking our necks for the health and lies of others...that's what those firefighters and policemen did. We need to learn from their example. Rather than just flying the american flag, try to remember WHY you are letting it billow in the air.

Yes, after the September 11 events, I, like my neighbors, did too fly the american flag by my doorstep. I have gained a new respect for the american flag and what it means to me. It's not just a piece of cloth, or even just a symbol of our country. It is a symbol of freedom, love, and hope. The flag stands as a major part of our country though, for some time, I just considered it a flag...just a flag to whch I proclaimed my loalty to my country. But I have, within the past year, realized it's worth. "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." We will not divide; we will not seperate from our love for our country and our love for eachother if we always remember the flag. We do not want our flag praised to in vain.Let it wave high, proclaiming the freedom of our nation...under God.