A Reflection

As you all know, yesterday marked the 8th anniversary of Patriot’s day, more infamously known as 9/11. On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked and crashed airplanes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. They killed everyone on board, and many, many more died inside the buildings. Another plane hit the Pentagon and the last crashed in Pennsylvania.


The sole purpose in what terrorists do is, put simply, to cause terror. They do what they do to cause destruction, fear, terror, and pain, usually in complete knowledge of what they do. Oh, they may have other ideas of what they are doing, and may believe they are dispensing justice. Some do it for religious purposes, citing their holy works. But in the end does it make it any different? They killed almost three thousand people, including themselves. Families were ripped apart. Children orphaned, having to hear a stranger tell them mommy or daddy is never coming home. Thousands of innocent lives obliterated or damaged for far distant peoples’ ideals. It is impossible to justify.

We know this, but we also must learn a lesson. We were attacked by hate, but this reminds us that we cannot respond with hate, lest we be just as bad. We must show that their purpose has been deflected; where met with hate we must show compassion, and courage, and unity. United we stand, divided we fall; united we can repair the damage that was done physically, rebuild the towers, rebuild the damaged lives with love and hope and aid. We can never replace those who died, but we can go on, taking strength from their courage, their memory. We can face those who did it with justice, with right anger, but not with hate, which will burn and twist as many lives as it did ours. We are Americans and proud of it; of our progressiveness in being free and just and equal. Let us show the same progressiveness in NOT showing hate, in NOT seeking revenge of the same kind, and removing our prejudice against the innocents from THEIR countries who have as little part in what they do as we have in what they blamed us for. Though it has been 8 years since it happened, the memory lives on as burned in our minds, and problems still exist, and the possibility of something like it still exists.

This is what Patriot’s Day means to me—a reminder of what happened, a warning against the forces of terror, a reminder that there are still people out there who would oppose what we believe and that, truly, we pay prices for what we have here. We must still uphold the ideals of the American dream. And, perhaps one day, we’ll have a world where things like this don’t happen, where children can grow up safe and supported, where the whole world is at peace. And when that happens, every sacrifice that people have made over the years may finally be justified.