In Remembrance
It has been months since I posted here at 1832 and yet today was a day I could not let pass without taking note of how I feel to be an American.
I will never forget the morning our principal came over the P.A. system to make an announcement. Everyone went silent because the only time she ever came on was to announce a death. We had no idea just how different this "death" was.
9/11/01 not only brought the deaths of thousands of Americans, but death to an era of unrivaled power and domestic security. From that day on we, as a nation (whether divided during elections or united after natural horrors) have never been the same. That day, and the uneasy days which followed, taught me more about what it means to be an American than all of my 18 previous years had.
I learned that you can bend the American soul, but you can not break it. I learned that you can kill an American citizen, but not our national unity. I learned that we are not as loved in this world as we may like to think, yet we do not back down from foreign responsibilities. I learned that compassion for your neighbor is not dead within the wealthiest nation in the world, as some like to say. I learned that for all of the complaints I have with this nation, I would never want to call anywhere else "home."
With the sorrows of Katrina still fresh in our minds, I pray that we can all take a moment to remember our fallen heroes from 4 years ago. May they rest in peace and may their memory guide us and our leaders to do what is best for our nation in the years to come.
I will never forget the morning our principal came over the P.A. system to make an announcement. Everyone went silent because the only time she ever came on was to announce a death. We had no idea just how different this "death" was.
9/11/01 not only brought the deaths of thousands of Americans, but death to an era of unrivaled power and domestic security. From that day on we, as a nation (whether divided during elections or united after natural horrors) have never been the same. That day, and the uneasy days which followed, taught me more about what it means to be an American than all of my 18 previous years had.
I learned that you can bend the American soul, but you can not break it. I learned that you can kill an American citizen, but not our national unity. I learned that we are not as loved in this world as we may like to think, yet we do not back down from foreign responsibilities. I learned that compassion for your neighbor is not dead within the wealthiest nation in the world, as some like to say. I learned that for all of the complaints I have with this nation, I would never want to call anywhere else "home."
With the sorrows of Katrina still fresh in our minds, I pray that we can all take a moment to remember our fallen heroes from 4 years ago. May they rest in peace and may their memory guide us and our leaders to do what is best for our nation in the years to come.
