Tuesday morning, I got up at 5:30, took a shower and went to a physics lab that started at 7:30. I didn’t turn the TV on, didn’t check my email, I just went to class. During the lab I worried about my job, my homework, I worried about the bills and about my grades. I worried about all the things a senior might be expected to worry about.
While the small, everyday worries of the world occupied my attention, half a nation away, peace was shattered. I will admit, my first words when I heard of the attack were, “I hope this doesn’t start a war.” I repeated these words three or four times to various people. Then I watched the video of the plane slamming into the tower.
I saw the pictures of people running in fear. I heard the stories of those trapped in the building. Then I realized that the war was already declared on us, and it was left for us only to respond.
In the days since, people have said and done many things. People have tried to blame the attack on our international policy, they have tried to blame it on all people of Arab descent. People have helped those hurt, people have rallied around the nation.
In all of the confusion of the aftermath, one thing keeps coming back to me; something I repeated many times in elementary school. These words: “One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” These words summarize America?what we are and what we stand for. The lives of countless thousands have been spent making this nation.
National war heroes like Washington and Lincoln, Civil rights heroes like Martin Luther King, Jr., unsung war heroes like those remembered by the Tomb of the Unknown soldier?the blood of these stand as the price for our freedom. Tuesday, thousands more added their blood to this list in this attack.
In the days to come, many more will be asked to add their names to this list. The price for our freedom has been paid with by the blood of patriots. Whatever the future holds for us, I for one am willing to do my part to preserve what this nation means to me. To do any less would be to discount the sacrifice of those who have gone before, of those who died Tuesday.
I pray during this time that regardless of race, color, religion or philosophy, we can come together as “One nation under God” to protect those freedoms we hold so dear and to comfort the loss of those whose friends and family paid the ultimate price for them.
Adam Blake