It’s been nearly 10 years since Al Qaeda declared war on America by high jacking planes and flying them into the World Trade Center killing over 3,000 civilians. Since then we’ve invaded two Arab nations, killed Al Qaeda leaders and scared the living hell out of the world by showing what happens when you poke a sleeping bear in the eye. However we had not been able to capture or kill the man who was responsible for the attacks, Osama Bin Laden. This is no longer true as he was declared dead by President Obama earlier today.
I’m not going to talk about the geopolitical consequences from 9-11, I’m going to talk about how I feel knowing that Bin Laden is dead. You never want to see a person die but I will make a special exception for him. 9-11 is my generations Pearl Harbor, Iraq is our Korean War and Afghanistan our Vietnam. But what’s different for us is that all of these events were directly caused by one man’s hatred for our way of life. He wanted 9-11 to break us, to show that we would beg for mercy and bow to a terrorists demands but instead his actions accomplished the exact opposite. We rose up together helping brush the dust from the World Trade Center off our collective shoulders and went to war against Al Qaeda.
I remember sitting in Ms. Brashear’s Spanish I class my junior year in high school when she left the room and came back completely white in shock. She didn’t tell us what happened but we found out anyways. That day was full of confusion with kid’s parents coming and getting them out of school since no one was sure if there would be more attacks. But over time we found who was responsible and why they acted the way they did.
The next day Ms. Brashear’s came into class and briefly talked about the attack. She was standing there, explaining it to us when she suddenly stopped because she was about to cry. She stood there holding herself together and we watched her. I wanted to get up and give her a hug because honestly I needed one too but I didn’t. That is the only regret of my life was not giving her that hug. I didn’t know any New Yorkers nor anyone who had died from the attacks but I knew from seeing her cry just how close we American’s are to one another despite the distance between our borders.
This has become more evident to me as I’ve gotten older because I’ve met so many people who’ve shared their stories about that day. While I was interning in DC I spoke to many people who were in New York or Washington on 9-11 or knew someone that had experienced the loss of someone because of the attack. Hearing those stories and talking to those people really hit home that 9-11 was a day we all share as a nation not through our regional locations but as American’s.
I have no idea how the people whose loved ones are gone from either dying on 9-11 or in serving our country feel today. Does Bin Laden’s death make it any easier for them? That’s up for them to decide but I hope it helps. It gives me some closure knowing that our government never quit on catching him and that he is now dead. I really would like to be home today to give my family a hug, my girlfriend a kiss and the nearest serviceman a thank you. I would also like to thank the men and women who do serve in our military and to the people in the CIA and Special Forces. All of your work allows people like me a chance to live the life I want. Thank you.
And remember it’s always better to spit in the wind then poke a sleeping bear in the eye.
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