The terrorists attacked September 11th, 2001, I when in the 4th grade. I remember a teacher from another room came in and interrupted our class so that she could tell my teacher something, something that seemed very important by the pale washed-out look on her face. She went blank. We didn't understand what was going on and she certainly wasn't saying anything. Soon after she turned on the T.V. and flipped to the news; the first thing i saw was a burning building. My first thought, "What's the big deal? Buildings burn all the time." I wasn't being heartless or what not but I didn't understand why this building was so important that it deserved so much news time. Shortly after, live, a saw the second plan run into another building, oddly looking just like the last. Being nine years old, I had no clue as to what the "Twin Towers" were. The teacher quickly turned off the television and at that moment I began to realize just how serious the situation was.
This was something not discussed in my house but it still affected me crucially. I couldn't and still can understand how something that vile could be done to others. I became obsessed. I read as many books as I could, watched as many documentaries that I could handle. Every channel captured my attention; TLC, Discovery, History, Time. I wanted to know everything. I listened to interviews from historians, victims families, survivors, anyone who knew even the slightest bit of information. I wanted to know it all. I even wrote poetry on the topic, which was praised by my 5th grade class. The World Trade Centers and the devastation upon them weighed heavily on me, and I didn't mind.
We will not rest until they are found and defeated;
We will win this struggle, not for glory, nor wealth, nor power, but for justice, for freedom, and for peace;
So help us God."
--Tom Harkin
-- Manu Dhingra, 27, a securities broker who suffered burns over a third of his body but was released from the hospital Oct. 2.
An open letter to a terrorist:
Well, you hit the World Trade Center, but you missed America! You hit the Pentagon, but you missed America! You used helpless American bodies, to take out other American bodies, but like a poor marksman, you STILL missed America!
Why? Because of something you guys will never understand. America isn't about a building or two, not about financial centers, not about military centers, America isn't about a place, America isn't even about a bunch of bodies. America is about an IDEA. An idea, that you can go someplace where you can earn as much as you can figure out how to, live for the most part, like you envisioned living, and pursue happiness. (No guarantees that you'll reach it, but you can sure try!)
Go ahead and whine your terrorist whine, and chant your terrorist litany: "If you can not see my point, then feel my pain." This concept is alien to Americans. We live in a country where we don't have to see your point. But you're free to have one. We don't have to listen to your speech, but you're free to say one. Don't know where you got the strange idea that everyone has to agree with you. We don't agree with each other in this country, almost as a matter of pride. We're a collection of guys that don't agree, called States. We united our individual states to protect ourselves from tyranny in the world. Another idea, we made up on the spot. You CAN make it up as you go, when it's your country.
Yeah, we're fat, sloppy, easy-going goofs most of the time. That's an unfortunate image to project to the world, but it comes of feeling free and easy about the world you live in. It's unfortunate too, because people start to forget that when you attack Americans, they tend to fight like a cornered badger. The first we knew of the War of 1812, was when England burned Washington D.C. to the ground. Didn't turn out like England thought it was going to, and it's not going to turn out like you think, either. Sorry, but you're not the first bully on our shores, just the most recent.
No Marquis of Queensbury rules for Americans, either. We were the FIRST and so far, only country in the world to use nuclear weapons in anger. Horrific idea, nowadays? News for you bucko, it was back then too, but we used it anyway. Only had two of them in the whole world and we used 'em both. Grandpa Jones worked on the Manhattan Project. Told me once, that right up until they threw the switch, the physicists were still arguing over whether the Uranium alone would fission, or whether it would start a fissioning chain reaction that would eat everything. But they threw the switch anyway, because we had a War to win. Does that tell you something about American Resolve?
So who just declared War on us? It would be nice to point to some real estate, like the good old days. Unfortunately, we're probably at war with random camps, in far-flung places ... who think they're safe. Just like the Barbary Pirates did, IIRC. Better start sleeping with one eye open.
There's a spirit that tends to take over people who come to this country, looking for opportunity, looking for liberty, looking for freedom. Even if they misuse it. The Marielistas that Castro emptied out of his prisons, were overjoyed to find out how much freedom there was. First thing they did when they hit our shores, was run out and buy guns. The ones that didn't end up dead, ended up in prisons. It was a big PITA then (especially in south Florida), but you're only the newest PITA, not the first.
You guys seem to be incapable of understanding that we don't live IN America, America lives in US! American Spirit is what it's called ... and killing a few thousand of us, or a few million of us, won't change it. Most of the time, it's a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of Spirit, until we're crossed in a cowardly manner, then it becomes an entirely different kind of Spirit!
Wait until you see what we do with that Spirit, this time.
Sleep tight, if you can. We're coming.
My Dream: World Peace.
lokei
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