For older people, maybe they have been asked the following question: “where were you when you heard Kennedy got shot?”, or, “where were you when you heard Lennon got shot?”. For people my generation, the question of equivalence is certainly “where were you when you heard the Twin Towers got hit by terrorists?”.
I remember clearly where I was when that happened. I was quiet young at the time, and was on the other side of the ocean. And I t seems not so long ago.
Typical fall day, and like everyday, I walked with my friends from school back to my grandmother’s house. It was about 4:30 in the afternoon, and the television was on in the living room.
Expecting the usual programming of cartoons, I was surprised when all I saw was a ruin of some building, with the news reporter reporting something. I sat down, and there, they showed the footage of the plane struck the Twin Towers over and over again. I soon realized that the terrorist attacked New York City, and the US was under attack.
That was the first time I heard of the word “terrorist.”
During these five years, I had moved to America, and hear the word “terrorists” at least few times a month. “The war on terrorism” is heard every time Bush speaks.
America’s not safe, I don’t even know if it will ever be safe from terrorists. It’s pretty lucky that the British uncovered the terror plot in London last month, but just how many more can we bust? How long can we continue this?
Terrorists aren’t idiots. Their selfless will to do revenge is something that is almost indestructible. As long there’s conflicts between the US and the Middle East, there will be grudge and vengeance. But it seems like the government had made no effort to resolve this. Instead, there’s wars and yapping when a country wants to develop “weapon of mass destruction” (nuclear weapons).
It all seems distant away, yet it is all so near.
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