| Why do you stare at the sky with your blurry eyes? |
[Sep. 11th, 2001|02:09 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | politics | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | terrified and shocked | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Ah! Megami-sama - My Heart, Your Heart | ] |
Well, my girlfriend's been after me for a while to write an entry, and I think the events of today are sufficient impetus to get me off my lazy ass to talk about something.
You all know what I'm talking about, so I'm not going to bother going into the details of the tragedy which befell the American people today. Instead, I'll give you my impressions of the event.
First of all, I would like to make it painfully clear to everyone who reads this that I am frightened out of my mind. I never imagined anything like this would occur in my lifetime. I guess people seldom think about that sort of thing, because it seems like a big surprise every time. Hearing about this event was not how I would have chosen to start my day.
I was still in bed when the brunt of the damage occurred. I woke to a ringing phone with my mother on the other end. She told me a terrible tragedy had happened, and at first I thought she was just being silly about some small thing that happened at home. As she continued to talk, however, I noticed the tone in her voice was completely devoid of humor. I couldn't believe what she was saying. I'm still not sure if I want to believe it. It's really too much for me to handle right this moment.
What really worries me is that everyone on the news is talking about a retaliatory strike. Senator McCain said that this attack is "obviously an act of war against the United States," and everyone who had family and friends who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center seems to be bloodthirsty for revenge. That's all understandable to me, but I honestly don't see what a counterstrike will accomplish, aside from throwing away even more innocent lives.
...Maybe even my innocent life. I really don't know. I don't think college students can be drafted into the military, but that doesn't make me feel any better about any of this. I still feel like I could be swept up into the army any day now, and ferried off to die in some godforesaken foreign land because my President is an idiot.
I suppose the best word to describe how I'm feeling about all of this would be "demoralized." I'm frightened for my life and for the lives of those I love. I feel almost certain that Bush is going to start rallying for a war against Palestine or whoever did this, and I don't think that's what we need. We don't need any more people to die needlessly.
Of course, I don't really have any alternatives in mind. The government will undoubtedly argue that we need to get over there and show the Palestinians what-for so they'll think twice about messing with us next time. While that is a valid point, it's no excuse for all the people who would undoubtedly perish in the ensuing war which would be essentially pointless.
I feel a lot like Relena Peacecraft right now. I don't want people to fight anymore. Too many people die. I honestly don't understand why things like this have to occur, and at the same time, I have no way of doing anything about it. I can sit here and talk about peace all day, but there's no way of creating it or preserving it. Human conflict will always exist, and unfortunately, that means stupid things like this are going to keep happening.
I've been lucky to have grown up in a time when the world was at relative peace. The only war I lived through was Desert Storm, and that doesn't even really qualify as a major conflict in comparison to either of the World Wars, or even Korea and Vietnam. I fear that what has occurred today will escalate into something horrible.
Maybe we should show world leaders the Gundam saga. Maybe they'd watch it, and see how pointless war is. Nobody wins, and everybody is hurt.
All I can do now is pray. |
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| As the Kire would say... "God damn it!" |
[Sep. 11th, 2001|11:53 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  distressed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Perfect Blue - Ai No Tenshi | ] |
This has certainly been an interesting day all the way around.
As I walked around the campus going to the various places I needed to go today, I saw many faces of passersby. You could tell that every one of them had been affected in some way by the terrorist plane-crashings. Some of them may have had family or friends on one of the planes. Others may have known people who lived in the New York area and worked at or around the World Trade Center. Still others, like me, seemed completely shaken by the events of this morning.
Everyone I know had their own way of coping. My friend Victor tried to laugh it off and put a humorous spin on things. Jeremy got online and talked to people about what they thought. Jess and I went to a prayer service for the recently deceased to pay respects to those who died in the attack. Jordan tried to remain cheerfully oblivious to it all, but I could tell that somewhere inside, he was upset. And poor Brian said hardly a word all day, wrapped his blanket around himself, and took a lot of naps. It's like he's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. I wish there was something I could do to help.
I've mostly gotten over my initial shock, fear, and sadness. The mood of the campus as a whole, however, still seems very subdued. Lots of people stayed home from classes all day and just sat in their rooms, thinking about what today means for them and for the American people.
I've come to grips with the fact that we may end up declaring war against someone or another, but I feel all I can hope for is a short war with few casualties. I don't want to hear about any more people needlessly dying just because our world political leaders were born with defective brains. Some sort of military action seems inevitable, but I'm really hoping this doesn't turn into a full-fledged war.
It's very nice of Britain and France pledging to help us in any counterstrike we want to perform, but I really wish they'd keep out of this. If we do decide to retaliate, and they come to back us up, we just might find a lot of nations allying themselves to fight against us. It's the perfect recipe for a third World War.
This is all forethought and speculation on my part, but the stage certainly seems set for that sort of thing to occur. All it needs is the right impetus. I'm constantly praying that we don't provide that one little spark to set the fires of war ablaze.
That's really about all I have to say about this. Now all that's left is to wait, and to hope for a quick and painless resolution to all of this. |
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