Okay, the time has come, my dear friends, for me to finally take an official stand on this whole issue and to offer up my comments [whether or not they were asked for.] Buckle your seatbelts, it's gonna be a long ride.

Okay, first off, there's no use talking about the tragedy itself. It goes without saying that my heart and mind go out to those who, right now, are living through what I can only imagine is hell. I don't want this post to turn into a whole sympathy letter. Which is not to say that I don't sympathize, but I feel I can do more than just sit and sympathize and empathize with those who lived through this directly.

Now, here come the opinions:

No matter what you are feeling right now, I don't believe the path we should go down right now is one of fighting back. Yes, in due time, justice needs to be served. But there is a large difference between justice and vengeance. The reasons I don't think we should go around saying "nuke 'em" is three fold. First of all, we don't even know who the 'em in "Nuke 'em" is. Yea, there are a lot of suspects, bin Laden being the biggest, but how do we know who else. We don't yet know if the government and the people of Afghanastan aided bin Laden by carrying out his plan and protecting him. Until we do, what is the point in fighting back? We're not yet sure WHO we need to fight. Secondly, and I'm using the same defense I use in the arguement over the death penalty, why show people that it is wrong to kill innocent people, by going out and killing innocent people. I know some people say that "They killed thousands of people that didn't deserve to die, so we should show them who's boss by bombing the hell outta their people, too." It just doesn't make sense to me. This isn't to say that I don't think, at one time, someone should pay, but, concievably, if we bombed them right now we could be punishing a whole country for the actions of a few people. Lastly, I believe that we should wait. Wait and look for answers. And while we're doing that, up security a whole helluva from the level it was at that allowed terrorists to get on the plane with knives and such in the first place. I learned in my Ethics class that to make a moral decision, you have to make a choice in as impartial a manner as possible, not letting your own emotions enter in to the decision making process. As hard as it is, we have to try to think and act with our heads, not with our gut reactions. And before we do anything we better have the support of the rest of the effing world. I, for once, applaud Bush's way of dealing with all of this [except for the fact that Russia declared a Day of Mourning before Bush did.]

Okay, now for my gripe with the American people. Don't get me wrong, I am completely proud of our country for our way of handling this trauma and grief. The overall patriotism and support for our country is very awe-inspiring. I had to go to work yesterday [at Long's for those of you who forgot]. In my five hour shift last night, thirty-two people asked if we carried any American flags. THIRTY-TWO PEOPLE. I was amazed at this number and really proud to be called an American. However, we did not have any flags. Now, let me explain: it takes three days to get a shipment in; and yesterday being Thursday, means that we would have had to order the flags on Monday to get them in. Of course, on Monday, the thought didn't cross our minds that we would need extra flags. We had a few flags left over from July 4th, and some napkins with flags on them, but that was it. For the most part, the people reactions to our not having flags wasn't uncommon: pretty dissapointed but wondering where, in fact, they could find a flag. Some other people though, who came few and far between, reacted in a way that appaled me, one woman actually said, "You don't have any flags?! How can you be so un-American?" Other people asked, "How can you not have any flags? Don't you know what's going on?" I just felt like screaming. I mean, c'mon people. It's not as if, upon hearing about the tragedy, your local Long's manager thought, "Hey, let's get some flags. We can be American and make some money." Not to mention, where in the hell was all this patriotism when America wasn't in a crisis? If you are that much of a patriot, shouldn't you already have a flag. Don't yell at me and tell me I'm un-American if, during your forty or so years of life, today is the first day you've ever thought about getting a flag. It just struck me as extremely hypocrtical. I venture to say that half of the poeple that came into Long's yesterday looking for a flag were, just last week, bad-mouthing the government or perhaps complaining about their terrible tax refund. Now of all sudden, Bush is their best buddy? I just don't understand. I mean, yes, there's no denying that a flag is a great way to show your support, but it's sad that it had to take something like this to wake up America up to the way we are supposed to live and love our country. Eventually, I made a sign that read "Sorry, We Do Not Have Any Flags [However, We Do, In Fact, Love America]" I went home from work feeling very bitter and cynical.

Yet, today at school I saw something that made me feel hope for the nation. I was walking around the halls during my Yearbook class and I saw a few roses tucked into the loop of the lock on people's lockers. At first, I thought it was just a gift for the football players from the cheerleaders [sometimes they do that.] Then I noticed it was more randomly scattered that it would have been, had it been just a "Good Luck at the game" kinda thing. I stopped by one of the roses and noticed there was a note tied around the stem. I read the back side first, "Remember those that lost their lives on September 11, 2001." Then I flipped the note over. It said something to the extent of, "In this time of violence, it may seem easy to sink to a level of hatred. Instead, you should work to spread love. Try to do a good deed today, like I have done for you. Spread love, not hate." I was just speechless. I thought to myself, "This is what we should be doing. If the world was more concerned with just treating each other with love, instead of buying flags or bombing other nations, we could get through this a little easier." I felt really good, knowing that someone at my school cared enough to do this. It made me feel that we do have a future worth living for. I hope more people catch on to this.

Okay, I think I better come to the close of this long, pretty emotional post. I really want to say that I, for the most part, am proud of America's reaction to this tragedy. United by a horror. Let's just hope that this united, loyal feeling stays with us all.