The American Essay, Research Paper
At night I toss and turn watching my mind?s replay of people jumping out of the
WTC, a hundred stories up. I hold back tears at every US flag flying at
half-mast, at every sign of solidarity. I struggle to talk, to smile, to hope.
I?m explosive. My fury is the rumbling building; my heart pumps jet fuel. My
mind burns and tears at the walls of reality, and my world crumbles. All that is
left is a bent and smoldering fury and not a soul upon which to direct it.
War. Our flag waves war. Red, war. White, war. Blue, war. I see war in
our faces. I hear war in our voices. It parades down streets, it titles our
resolve: New War. I have heard citizens call for war, my father demand war, my
country declare war. My humanity screams war! And then falters without a guilty
people, without a guilty country, without a guilty religion upon which to wage
it.
Yet I struggle to find an enemy; we all struggle to find an enemy to
rise against and crumble. I want to destroy their cause, their existence. I want
to rage. But I am left unaided to commune with my country, the world –
humanity. We weep amidst rubble and smoke, death and fear. We weep at the
tragedy; we weep without justice.
Do we strike? Bomb Afghanistan, bomb the Taliban, bomb countries that
may have transgressed against us? There is our war! Do we not have the greatest
power in the world? Our might is legendary. Our power, beyond challenge. Why
should we entertain repose, even for a moment? Let us strike first and then
consider!
Why find the Terrorist who wielded destruction on America? Are they all
not to blame? Why wait? We know who they are; we know where they are. So, let us
bring the mighty hand of America upon their doubtful heads and shatter them into
a thousand pieces like so much sand in the wind.
But is that not what we should fear? From one hateful group, we spawn a
thousand. In one death a thousand stand furious, determined. Will not their
violence reap violence a thousand fold? And thus we will be forced to fight them
all, tens of thousands, and one by one a thousand born.
And should we believe that a single man could do so much? As if
terrorism sprouted from a single soul whose removal would allow tranquility?s
return? And if the Terrorist falls, is not a martyr made? How many will rise in
his place? How many doubtful followers will we convert into doubtless enemies?
All of them we will fight! Each wave, more fanatical, more driven, and with less
to lose.
We must react. Our people lay dead beneath the collapsed symbol of our
economy. Our military smolders in the heart of our capital. Our markets collapse
and the world shudders. We have been kicked while we were down. The insult is be
great; the temptation to rage ever greater.
We can snuff out the terrorists in their havens. We can destroy whole
continents, the world a hundred times over. And that is precisely what it will
take to rid the world of terrorism. The sorrow of their losses will deliver
despair and cull fanaticism. Are we not blood thirsty now for our losses? Are we
not ready to wage war for our brothers and sisters? Do you think they will be
any different?
What are we about to do? Why have we declared war against an unknown
enemy? Do we have drugs in the streets even after decades fought against them?
Was Vietnam not enough? As if trading sands for a jungle changes the game. We
have lost two buildings and countless lives; need we erect a wall with countless
names, again?
War?s price: innocence, family members, love, peace, economies. What is
the price of war fought solely by Americans at the cost of Americans without
clear objectives, with a faceless enemy? The future.
Let us act but act prudently, backed in each step by the resolve of the
world against the evils of terrorism. Let us walk hand in hand with the UN. Let
us hold our brothers and sisters not damn them to sandy graves. We can rid the
world of Terrorism but not with the lonesome, steeled resolve of the United
States. Only the full support of a world intolerant of anarchy and terror will
deliver us our goal: Liberty.
Regardless. I am an American, thus ?Here is to America, may she always be right.
But right or wrong, here is to America!?
Best Wishes,
The American
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