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| America in a Post-9/11 World I think it's safe to say that EVERYTHING and NOTHING here in America has changed. I'm sitting here, writing this essay, with the TV afternoon news blaring in the background, "The White House, and US Officials have just stated that we are now on a heightened state of alert, from yellow to orange....The nation has just issued the ok for over 200,000 small pox vaccines, hoping healthcare officials will take the initiative to get citizens to recieve the vaccination, healthcare officials ( already recieving the vaccinations ) are taking a strong initiative in preparation for a possible biological attack". Wow, I remember the old days, when breaking news during the day was about a tractor trailer turned over on some major highway, and traffic hour was going to be hell for commuters. But I guess, that was just the old days. The media flashing frenzied warnings, and alerts, and stories of how tens of thousands of US troops are getting ready in the middleast for a "possible" war with Iraq. CBS, ABC, NBC, Diane Sawyer, Oprah, Peter Jennings, Sales of gas masks rising, Join the US Army today and get help with your college tuition, two final ideas left in the race to rebuild ground zero, state of the unions, ABC News Special Report, Homeland Security Adisory Levels, Terrorism Threat Level raised, Smallpox, Michael Jackson Documentaries, Girls Gone Wild Videos, Martha Stewart shares decline, Paternity Tests, Clone-Aid, Space shuttles falling from the sky, The Osbournes love Pepsi Twist, Arts Funding completely cut off by NJ Govenor, Bono wants to save Africa, Obese Americans on fad diet kicks, Zenedrin, TrimSpa, Howard Stern, Jello Biafra, The WB, SpringBreak, Def Poetry Jams, Wyndham By Request Members recieve discounted offers on worldwide resorts, As Seen on TV stores, Haj, Chili's baby back ribs, Bowling For Comlumbine, latin babies now largest minority in biggest US State, New Weightloss drug for women, Partnership for a Drug Free America, Winter Storm watch sponsered by Jeep....confusion confusion confusion !!!!!!! For the most part, before there was talk of another war, things here were for the most part, business as usual, and still are. But everything I've written just before this paragraph, were just a few things I've seen on tv in just the past week ! So many things happening these days, so many issues, so many points of view...But the reality is that 5 years ago, we had all those issues minus the intense fear of terrorism. Life has always been compliacted in some way shape or form for the average person , wether it was that dad lost his job and didn't know how he was going to feed the family, or if a 15 year old girl was pregnant and just didnt know what to do or wether the new kid in school was getting gay bashed, or wether you felt you just didnt have enough money to go clubbing this weekend, or if your boss was just annoying you at work with an enormous stack of reports that just HAD to be done by 3 o'clock, or wether you had just been diagnosed with cancer. Life in itself, can be intensely complicated on its own, even without the threat of terrorism. Each person, has their own issues, struggles, within their own private lives, let alone the newest face of terrorism now directly in our face everyday. Now everyone's suspicious of everyone else, your kind muslim neighbor that had a house next to you for the past 20 years, who you loved because they never made noise after 10pm, and who's kids were the sweetest people in the world are now suspicious because they're family came to visit, two weeks before September 11th, 2002 ( 1 year later ). Nevermind that maybe they were celebrating the birthday of their grandmother who was turning 100 years old on September the 8th, and they all wanted to be together to celebrate this history of a woman they absolutely adored. The everyday life of American people differs so greatly from person to person, I dont even have a general category to place them in. So many different creeds, colors, beliefs, lifestyles, sizes and shapes, i think the only thing we really all have in common is that little tag they place on our passports, "American". So there we were, being ourselves, in our everyday lives, calorie counting, missing our bus, getting stuck in the rain with no umbrella, buying pants that were too small, trying to get a few bucks from anyone willing to give it to feed your kid, homework, getting pissed off that the dow went down 300 points, and feeling excited because today was the first day your baby said "mom" or "dad". And then one moring, we all did what most of us do first thing in the morning, we turn on our televisions, and there it was. It felt like the end of the world, the faces of people running frantically throughout the streets, buildings collapsing, killing thousands, the president with a look on his face that I dont think ANYONE will forget, and US Military Fighter Jets streaming over the sky willing to shoot down ANY unaccounted for Airplance in sight. It was the first time I opened my window, and heard COMPLETE silence. Every business closed. No planes flying over. Not a soul in the street. Only the roaring of a police or military truck scrambling by as if it were Vietnam, or on the frontlines of a battle we had read about in our American History tecI think every town in America that day ( aside from New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania ) turned into a ghost town as people scurried frantically home, because being home was safe. This is America ! Land of the Free ! we're not accustomed to these kinds of things ! So now, what we would only see in movies, or events that we were hearing about on the radio that were happening in other countries, places so far away, that we couldnt even pronounce the names of, have now officially happened here, on US Soil, in our own back yard. And wether this war is about oil, or terrorism, or some goverment conspiracy, the reality of it all is that, was once only a possibility, is now reality. The reality that i think alot of Americans are facing is that we're not living in our perfect secluded little world anymore. We have now finally joined the endless list of other countries that have been facing horrific attrocities all along. So here were are, Americans, and we still go to work as usual everyday, and we still go to birthday parties, and it's still business as usual. But every once in a while, everytime the news puts on a special report that the US Dept. of Homeland Security ( which by the way, didnt even exsist pre-9/11 ), is issuing a nationwide state of higher alert, that fear ( or if fear isnt a word you like to use, lets just say "idea" ) runs through our minds again. Where will the terrorists hit next? How safe are we? How serious is this threat...really? | |||
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