In the time that I have written columns for this publication, I have focused most of my attention on making people laugh. I come from a very sarcastic family, full of jokes and laughter. I rarely cry. However, on the recent fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America, I cried. It usually takes a while for sad events to really hit me. I don’t know if I am in denial or simply don’t feel the effect of what happened until later. It took five years to the day for the severity of the 9/11 attacks to hit me. I was watching a Dateline special on NBC. Jane Pauley was interviewing family members of passengers on United Airlines Flight 93.
Many of the interviewees described calls they received from their loved ones on board. One woman, in particular, called her husband to say goodbye. He was asleep the first time she called, so she left a message.
The message began like any other. She was calm and collected. After realizing this may be the last chance she had to tell her husband she loved him, she began to cry. One of the last things the woman said was that she hoped she would see her husband’s face again. That is when I lost it. I got to thinking about why the terrorists hate Americans enough to plot such a horrific plan to kill as many of us as they can. I can’t imagine what would cause people to have so much hatred in their hearts. When I think of what the people on those ill-fated flights must have been thinking, feeling and wondering, I can’t help but feel extremely selfish and petty. What is worse is that the attacks that day not only killed honest, loving people, they took some of the best and bravest this country had. It makes me sick that people in this country place more emphasis on materialistic things than the safety of a fellow human being. This is why other countries hate us. We pay professional football players millions of dollars to win games, but we pay teachers practically minimum wage to educate our future leaders. We stalk movie stars and wait hours in the freezing rain to catch a glimpse, but we give the cold shoulder to those with nothing to give us. We think everyone should cater to us, we think we deserve more than what we work for and we like to place blame on anyone but ourselves. Now, I know many of you think you are not one of these people, and if you truly aren’t, then I commend you. For those of you who are, I beg you to look deep inside yourself and try to make some kind of change in your life to turn that around. The terrorists that so desperately want to harm our country come from a land of hate and violence with almost no positive opportunity. They are stuck in this world, and they know nothing more than the blind faith they have in their leaders. Trying to convince these people they are wrong may be impossible, but changing our image in the face of other countries is not. After the attacks, our nation bonded together like it never had before. It was impossible to drive to the grocery store without seeing an American flag magnet on the back of a car. How many flags do you see today? I guarantee that the number is fewer. I know that we have not forgotten, but maybe some have stopped caring, and that is sad. I used to blame the media for many of this nation’s problems, and maybe there is some justification to that. However, placing blame is pointless, and I will never be able to change something as powerful as the press.
But I can change myself, and so can you.
We are a country of immense potential with a world of opportunity, and we don’t seem to care. A road like the one we are on will only take us down — just what the terrorists are hoping for.
E-mail Meghan at [email protected]
