All falls down: Reflections on 9/11

MIAMI: It's been 5 years since the devastating attacks on September 11 occured and I can still remember where I was when it happened: I was in the seventh grade and I was in my Homeroom class, when my teacher's son came in told him to turn on the television. The first thing I saw was two twin towers and a plane went straight through the north tower. I, and along all my other classmates were shocked and confiused of what was happening but as the news report went on, we found out that terrorists highjacked comercial planes and one of them went through the World Trade Center. Another two planes crashed on the Pentagon and one was headed to Washington D.C. but was diverted to a field in Virginia. My eyes were locked on the t.v. set watching the events unfloding. Some time later another plane hit the South tower in which I was begining to think was just an earlier footage of the North tower being hit. But I knew I was sadly mistaken. Then at 10:28AM when I was in my Math class trying to do my work but couldn't because the television was on, the North tower(Or the South tower. I can't remember) collapsed. As I watched, CBS reporter Dan Rather said in a weary voice I'll never forget, "The World Trade Center has collaped."

Since then, I've been trying to come to terms with what happened and why. Even though I didn't know anyone of the over three thousand people whom lost there lives on that day, these people were our neighbors, friends, people whom were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Many times, I've(along with every other American) have asked, why would terrorist do this to us? What did we do to them? Through the years, I thought that terrorist were inhuman, whom just wanted to destroy and kill all Americans for the hell of it, but recently, in the Conclution of the book "Shake Hands with the Devil" and of reading "A Problem from Hell: America and the age of Genocide" now I've started to see things in a totally different light. Senator Dallaire writes that people in the First world have the tendancy of thinking there more human than people in the Third world, which might be one of the contributing factors why the world was so passive to respond to the Rwandan genocide. When he went to Sierra Loene in 2001 for CIDA, he describes a rage he saw in the eyes of the children that were suffering under the brutal regiem of Charles Taylor (whom is currently being held in the Hague for crimes against humanity) He explaines that because the youth in contries like Chechnia and Middle Eastern contries are suffering under curruption, war, genocide, famine, and other worldly disasters, they grow up under extreme violence and feel anger towards the world and resort towards violence in order to survive and warns that if this isn't solved, then the world will be nothing but a repeat of Rwanda, 9/11, the Congo, Siera Leone and the Middle East. And in "A Problem from Hell" Samantha Power explains why the UN and the United States are wary of responding to genocide and which survivors of such crimes don't make good neighbors and they too resort to taking out their rage against the world. To me it makes so much sence. If were going to win the "War on Terror" the US can't be in this self-intrest bubble, we shouldn't be able to move mountians to protect just our own sovergnty, we as humans have to help out one another because NO human is more human than the other no matter where they live or who they are. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a terrorist smpathyzer. What they did on 9/11 was very wrong and cruel, but the fact of the matter is that the world has turned a blind eye on the suffering and the plight of millions of people whom suffer so much in places like Rwanda, Darfur, and other place around the world. Now more than ever, this generation have to rise above race, color, religion and say in a loud voice "Enough is enought!" in reaching out a hand of humanity to those whom need it the most.

September 11 is another date in American history which will live in infamimy. A date which we saw the best and worse of human play out in front of the world. A warning and a lesson to the world of the consecuenses of self-intrest. We must be able to spill our blood for humanity and put the good of it above everything else. For the sake of the future and of the children.

Blogger's note: I would appreciate if you all let me know your opinions and thoughts. Thanks!