What On Earth?-Column #4, September 2002

This month marks the one-year anniversary of the DARKEST DAY on US soil, other wise known as 9-11-01. To many, this day marked a change in our lives. A change in normality, business, and the top thing of all: SECURITY. This was the day, where, 2 planes, believed to be hijacked by terrorists, crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Then, another plane, hit the Pentagon in Washington, DC; and another, hit a field in Somerset, Pennsylvania; just miles from Pittsburgh. To many, this was a somber day. A day of horror, a day of sadness, and most importantly, a day of ANGER. You want to know why? Well, here goes.

After the attacks on September 11, many of the nation's airports and top attractions started beefing up security so that if a future attack comes, they'd be ready. But what we WEREN'T ready for was the fact that we were also staring at the suspected mastermind of these attacks: Osama Bin Laden. He praised the hijackers for attacking us, because we don't believe in Islams or Muslims. Not true, we say. We are attacking ALL types of terrorism, from Islams to Muslims, from Baptists to Christians. Now, in the days following the BOMBING of the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993; some of us thought: WHY DIDN'T WE BEGIN OUR WAR ON TERRORISM BACK THEN? Well, simple. Only 6 people died, with over 1,000 INJURED. And with 6 dead, even starting the war would be of no benefit. Well, as I figured out, the bombing created a CRATER 5 stories down in one of the parking garages in one of the towers. The terrorists' plan was to have the North Tower (the taller building with the antenna) topple onto the South Tower (the shorter building). Luckily the plan failed. It turns out the heat from the bombs and stopped some cyanide gas that spread, and the towers were spared further damage. Now, after the bombing, the towers were cleaned and repaired and re-opened within a few months. This did NOT stop normal life, nor beef up security, because, of course, only SIX people died. The news coverage did NOT go 24/7, so it was back to business as usual the next day.

Well, unlike the bombing, this attack had news coverage ALL week, 24/7, as you may have expected, and ALL regular programming was pre-empted. And believe it or not, the week following the attacks, the markets started on a down note, with the Dow losing more than 600 points on the Monday following the 9-11 attacks. We did NOT get back to normal, until October. For me, though, I had weeks of sleeplessness, because not only because of the attacks, but almost 2-3 weeks after, my mom got laid off from her old job, a Garland fabric designing firm, because of that. She's now at a Dallas jewelry designing firm. In the months that followed, I focused on the WTC Bombing, because only 6 people died, and I wanted to know what happened that day. I've been getting new info, so it should help. If I plan to post it, I will.

For many of us, we will all ask the same question: WHY DID THEY ATTACK US? Well, some of us thought it was that they hate free countries. Some of the attackers praised the attacks, because we are against Muslims and Islams. NOT TRUE. We attack ALL terrorists, of all types. Besides Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the 2 Oklahoma City bombers were NOT Islam or Muslim. We'll never know. I say, that they attacked us, because obviously they thought that the 1993 bombing was NOT enough to tear us apart. Well, this attack wasn't enough EITHER, because after BOTH attacks, we united, we stayed strong, we showed the terrorists, that if you mess with America, you're going to pay a price, and you're also going hold yourself accountable for it, too. And how? Well, we've toppled the Taliban, and we've yet to topple Saddam Hussein, Iraq's President. Besides, if Afghanistan got a better government, than Iraq can do the same thing. It's not easy, but we will not stop.

And also, at this time of TIGHTENED and HEIGHTENED security, we're wondering, can they do security WITHOUT violating civil rights? Well, it's NOT easy, as you can imagine. There's also a new COLOR-CODED terror alert system, that should help people learn: Green-Normal; White-Unguarded; Yellow-Serious; Orange-Critical; Red-Severe.

In closing, I'd like to say these four words that will change the country AND the world forever: GOD BLESS THE USA. This is John Lee saying: Go HOME.