Has the United States really changed?
When I returned to the United States in December of last year after four blissful months in South Korea, my “welcome home” image was an M-16. Held by the two members of the California National Guard that greeted my flight’s passengers at the gate, the M-16, for those of you that haven’t seen one, is a scary-looking gun. I hadn’t seen one in person since a YMCA Summer Camp field trip to an Air Force Base when I was 11. But unlike the weapon I observed during that trip, the gun I saw upon coming back to the U.S. didn’t shoot blanks.
I felt separated from the whole September 11 situation. When news began to spread across the world I wasn’t sitting in a class or my dorm room; I was on a bustling street in the East section of Seoul. The natural emotions of fear, disbelief, and torment overwhelmed me, as they did most human beings across the world. But there was a degree of separation from everything. This event was happening in my country, but I was not there to experience it. Even though I was huddled around a group of Americans until the wee hours of the morning, I was overwhelmed by a sense of loneliness. Thus, although an ever-present fear swarmed my nation, I wanted to be in America. I wanted to be around people who would understand. I wanted to be home.
When I arrived months later, however, I learned I had missed the country’s expedient, yet somewhat gradual, change in thinking and its resurgent patriotism. By the time I began to roam the streets of my hometown, much of this change had reached “critical mass.”
Everywhere I looked there were swarms of American flags. It seemed like everything I did, from buying a burger at McDonald’s to going to a Memphis Raptors game (who have stunk, do stink, and will stink forever, by the way) was me doing my part to “fight the war against terrorism.” My parents, who previously hadn’t watched a full 30 minutes of news since I was born, were suddenly talking about the intricacies of national security.
But as I look back today, one year separated from the event, what part of our nation has really changed? Sure, the horrific images from September 11 are etched into our brains for eternity, just as the bombing of Pearl Harbor defined what Tom Brokaw has labeled “The Greatest Generation.” But what have we done to stop these terrible tragedies from occurring again?
* As a country, we still choose to act in a unilateral action within the context of our foreign policy
* We invaded Afghanistan and are preparing to invade Iraq. At the same time, we criticize Russia for invading Chechnya and Israel for operations in the occupied territories, even though they use the same “war against terrorism” rhetoric we use.
* We have become one united America.in opposition to people who don’t look like they should be in America.
* From political campaigns to P Diddy rhymes, September 11 has become more of a commemoration of capitalism than a realization of the attempt to destroy it.
I am not one to claim that if we don’t do x, y, & z then the victims of September 11 have died in vain. Rather, I believe that the lessons that we may have learned from that tragedy have not really lasted the calendar. Who will stand up for the rule of law? Who will decide it is better to bring people together than apart? When will we learn that America does not exist in a vacuum? How we as America’s next leaders embrace and change our new national thinking will define us as a generation. Let’s try not to screw it up.
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