Remembering 9/11

During my Issues class this week, we watched a documentary focusing on the firefighters and their role on 9/11. Immediately following the film, my teacher asked us a variety of questions. The one that struck me the most was, "What did we lose that day?" I responded: We lost much more that day than lives and buildings. We lost a sense of security with in the country, as well as a sense of integrity. Later I acknowledged that we lost our innocence as well. I listened very intently as the rest of my classmates shared their thoughts on the film. After taking in all of the facts, stories, pictures, and faces in the film, I realized how much 9/11 really did shift the way we view things. As a first or second grader, not much can disturb you, therefore 9/11 had little to no meaning to me. This film gave me multiple answers to why America runs the way it does.

The next portion of our task in remembering 9/11, was to look at several articles about the 10th anniversary. The first one that caught my eye, was a title that stated, "We've Taken the Fight to Al Qaeda." This is because it was the only title that had a direct statement toward the terrorist group. It was also one of the few that was not about America and its perseverance. This particular article, based around one of President Obama's radio addresses, talked mainly about the fight and near defeat of the responsible terrorist group. As opposed to warm hearted news such as, "hope" and "trust" by the American people, this was mostly about our victory in fighting evil. After all, doesn't the news excel off of negative and violent news stories?

As I stated earlier, the event of 9/11 when it happened didn't phase me at all. This is not a result of disrespect or carelessness in any way, it is simply due to my age and failure to see things in a mature way. In fact, I didn't realize the effects of 9/11 in a total scale until watching the film. Some things need to be experienced in a near virtual way in order to understand the true effect 9/11 had on everyone, both watching it live in New York, or on the TV at home. But now, after watching such a touching documentary, my knowledge of 9/11 has changed drasticallylly. Now understanding the way our government runs things is easier to comprehend. Also, the way my family lives is much more understandable. I have also noticed that in the past few days I tend not to argue with my parents when they say no to something expensive. Americas being in a tough time in largely in part of 9/11, and the effects can be seen not only nationally, but globally.