The Attack of 9/11

I remember that we didn't have school.  There was a situation with the daycare and I had to spend my time at my cousin's.  My uncle ran outside yelling.  He was saying "the towers" were coming down.  We didn't know why.  I had no idea what he was talking about.  I don't remember many specific memories about that day.  I remember the stress though.  I remember that we were about to travel out of the country and I remember the tense conversations, the pressing feelings and the fear. 

Until a few years ago, I had no real concept of what 9/11 meant.  I was sitting in my fifth grade classroom and we began to talk about different wars and assassinations that had happened on American soil.  She began to tell us, in detail, about the attacks on that clear September day.

The attack by Al-Qaeda on 9/11 was devastating for many people.  For the past decade, families all around the world have had to deal with the aftermath of that event.  Many people have suffered looking for rational reasons that they lost their loved ones.  As President Obama said, families have had to deal with the pain of the "empty chair at the dinner table." 

With the death of Osama Bin Laden, many of the families that suffered due to the attack on 9/11, finally feel that they have closure.  After the face of the most famous terrorist organization in the world has been brought to justice, many people wonder what steps they will take to have their lives continue on in a normal manner. 

I believe that this is a very messy situation for all involved.  I think that we would all hope that this would act as a "magic bullet" to give peace to the victim’s families and make sure that other terrorists don't want to follow in his footsteps.  However, there have been questions that have been brought up about attacks from other arms of Bin Laden's organization and many families still struggle with questions.

I believe that our government needs to be very careful as we move forward.  I think that there is the strong possibility of more attacks.  Bin Laden had been less involved in the "day to day" operations, in the last few years, and that means that others must have stepped up to take his place.  However, I think that we can avoid the worst that could come to our shores.  We need to keep soldiers overseas.  This will send the strong message that we are not going to back down and that no amount of fear and intimidation is going to keep our armed forced from doing their job.  Never the less, we need to be careful to respect their governments and their civilians so that they know we are there to deal with terrorists and not to take over countries.

Bin Laden's death is going to affect many people for a long time.  He will be a figure that continues to move people to action long after he is gone.  We need to remain positive as a nation.  We will only continue to be respected if we give the same respect and show that we will not back down from a threat.