We Will Never Forget

On Tuesday September 11, 2001, at 9:45 am there was a series of four premeditated
attacks on the United States of America that proceeded to take place after more than a few
minutes. Nineteen individuals associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda took over
four airplanes in order to execute a suicide plan that will kill not only themselves, but those
within the plane and those that were at the location of where they would crash the planes.
There were four locations where they were planning to crash the planes, the Pentagon, the
two towers of the World Trade Center in New York
City, the fourth plane did not meet its designated
location as the passengers and crew members had
fought the terrorists back. President George W. Bush
later addressed the country at 9 pm speaking about
the loss of lives but the resolve of America still
remaining strong; following this war was declared on
terror, but more specifically the Islamic group alQaeda as American troops were deployed in
Afghanistan.
Today, 14 years after this act that had the
intention of causing death, destruction, and panic we always remember those that were lost
that day. Those that died that day had done nothing to the Islamic extremists personally did
they? Why did those who were not involved in any altercation with al-Qaeda become victims
to their attacks? Terrorism is the concept of spreading terror to a group of people. Terrorism
has an advantage over normal warfare, it costs less money and the casualties on their side
will be significantly lower than those that are terrorized. As an American, I felt this, an act that
targeted innocent people in order to show us Americans that our methods, our beliefs, our
sense of security were not infallible and were capable of being taken down. However, we as
Americans know that those who died that day will never be forgotten, and because of the loss
of these innocent peoples lives we had to make sure that those who were responsible were
dealt with accordingly.
On May 2, 2011 United States Navy SEALs
found and killed Osama bin Laden in Abbotabad,
Pakistan. Bin Laden was the founder and head of
al-Qaeda and the mastermind behind the terrorist
attacks during 9/11. While the death of one man
cannot bring back the lives of the many people that
were lost, it does give some people comfort
knowing that the person that was behind the
attacks can no longer do anything similar to this
incident to any more innocent people. Killing
others creates a cycle of hate, revenge, and even
more death. It is near impossible to break this cycle as the key to doing so would be to not
hate those who killed people and to understand and get over the differences of other people.
This cycle of death is a depressing thought to be thinking of, but it does give food for thought
as people can imagine what it would be like if there were no hate in this world.