15 years ago I was in 8th grade. We were sitting in Mr. Coleman's social studies class and we had the TV on. But soon we were told to turn the TV off and act like nothing was happening.
We said a lot of harsh things that day. Lots of people wanted to make a parking lot out of the Middle East. When I heard that uttered from a 1st grader's mouth, I lost my appetite.
We couldn't understand the impact of that act of hatred would have on our lives. Whether we've lost friends to the desert sands, lost our hope, our faith, our trust; we've all lost something in these last 15 years.
But what we've lost is just a small taste of the loss that others around the world have felt. America is very lucky. It is, in fact, GREAT because we can go to bed without mortars shooting overhead. We can go to bed with a decent knowledge we won't be awoken by masked men and taken away as prisoners. We get to live in this bubble of safety. Others do not. I am, in no way, belittling what America has gone through. However, we are in the minority of countries that their biggest problem is choosing between two under qualified people for the position of POTUS.
National Tragedy is a relative and subjective term.
Electing Trump would be considered a national tragedy in my book.
I believe what we've lost is the wool that had covered our eyes for a long time. For the longest time, America could live in relative isolation from the rest of the world. Isolation from the terror, from the fear, from the evil. Now that comfortable isolation has been switched for shark infested waters.
It was bound to happen eventually.
2001 was before the era of Social Media. We all still had dial-up internet. But the world was waking up, nonetheless. The interconnectiveness of the digital age was starting to weave its world wide web between us. Something was going to wake us up. Something had to wake us up from this dream of isolation. This was more of a mallet to the head, rather than the soft chirping of birds.
Now my students are learning about 9/11 as a historical event. I had to ask "What did you hear or what did people tell you about how they reacted on 9/11/2001?" Most of them just shrugged.
They never had their innocence to lose.
I lost my faith. Faith in those who used to give a comforting voice. Faith in those who would lull me to sleep with stories of heroism in far away lands, where they wouldn't touch me. I question what I hear on the news. I question what I see on social media.
I'm not jaded, I'm just smart.
It's a good lie to believe.
It isn't a lie, it's the dichotomy of the world in which we live.
If the events of 9/11 and the subsequent War on Terror did not happen, where would our minds be in this aspect. Would we still be comfortably sleeping in our beds, waking to the sounds of soft birds? Awaiting the nurses to be in to administer another dose of sedative soon.
Or would something worse have happened?
I love the knowledge I possess about the cultures and the world around me. I want to learn more. I have a passion to critically evaluate what I hear and what I don't hear. I have a desire to dig deeper. To always keep searching. Some call it skepticism; I call them closed minded. In this way, I've gained a lot in the last 15 years.
America is still a special nation. It is a great nation. Now we are an informed nation. Over-saturated in some cases, but we are still seeing and experiencing more. We are asking questions. We are seeking answers. We are holding more people accountable,well...unless they're white men who come from money. The entire world has gained a lot. America lost countless lives since 2001, but we have also gained a world of knowledge.
Was this because of 9/11? Or was it bound to happen eventually? Is this a time when we look over our shoulder and shout, "Hey! That almost hit me!"? Or did we sit down with it and ask it to happen?
It's like when mom rips off that bandaid.
