WHAT 9-11 MADE ME REALIZE

I know that 9/11 hurt thousands of people, but I believe that as a whole,our country grew through 9/11. The citizens of our country were getting to a point where people did not fully appreciate what we have here because it had been a while since we last had to defend ourselves. In my opinion, 9/11 really woke everyone up and made us thankful to be Americans. I realized how unique and special our country is and that if we want these freedoms we have to be willing to defend them. I believe that everyone everywhere should be allowed these same freedoms, just like every citizen in America has.

I believe that a very bad thing happened on September 11, and I know that my thoughts and feelings will stay with me for the rest of my life. I will always remember where I was, how everyone around me reacted, how it made me feel, what my teacher said. Everything about that day will live in my mind forever. I also began to realize how forgetting the past can affect the future. I realized that if we forget our past, it will re-occur sometime in the future. I believe that this is a risk that we should not be willing to take. Forgetting what we witnessed will not help it to go away, it shouldn't be part of our healing process because we will never fully heal that way. It scares me when people say, "Oh, it's over now, move on with your life." Saying something like that makes me afraid that the person is going to forget what happened. If we do not settle this issue now, either with a war or with a peace treaty, we will only be leaving the terror for our children, or their children. Nobody should want to leave this issue behind, unsettled and forgotten about for his or her ancestors to deal with.

I believe that the people who planned the 9/11 attacks were cowards. I believe this because killing yourself in the act tells me that you are afraid of what your enemy will do in the event that you are caught. People always say that the punishment should fit the crime, and I believe this is true. If you cannot face your punishment than you are not fit to commit the crime. Another reason that I think that the terrorists were cowards is that they killed all of those innocent people, instead of fighting our army. People who want to serve our country are in the army, not the Twin Towers. The victims of the attacks were going to their jobs, as they normally did, not thinking a thing of it. People sign up for our Army because that is what they want to do; they are willing to sacrifice themselves for our country and our freedoms. If people are not willing to die for our country, they should not be put in such a position in which their lives are at risk. They all died in a surprise attack that was completely foolish. If other countries are angry with America, they should be willing to discuss the matter with us, so that we can work it out in a peaceful and adult manner. Instead, they chose to attack us, and then brag about how they "hurt" America. However, youll see that we have risen to the occasion and they are the ones hiding out in the middle of the desert so as not to be discovered by our army.

September 11th also made me realize that there are other countries in the world that do not like us because of all that we have. Before 9/11, I didn't know very much about the Gulf War or any of our other past conflicts with the Middle East. I had heard of the Gulf War, because my uncle fought in it, but I never thought about us actually having another war with any country, ever. I know that sounds really childish, but in my perfect little world, nothing as bad as September 11 would have happened, ever. Now however, I am much more aware of what is going on in the news and what has gone on in our past. I think this is a major way that 9/11 helped us as a country, and as a people, to grow. Teenagers are more aware of the events happening around the globe, and they watch the evening news with their parents. Granted, more than just 9/11 had to happen for these changes to come about, but I believe that it was a big factor.

On September 11, our country was changed forever. Although we cannot replace the loved ones lost, we can mourn together, pray together, and re-build together. We can't go back in time to make things right, but we can remember our feelings, and our thoughts so that it doesn't ever happen again. There is no such thing as a perfect world, or even a perfect country, but with peace, we are one step closer to happiness.