6:00 AM, Pacific Standard Time. 9:00 AM Eastern. New York City, New York. I was at work that day, manning the drive through at my local Burger King restaurant an entire continent's length away from this place. It was a day just like any other, a day where I would cash in my hours, earn my meager paycheck, and go home; or so I had thought at the time. This was to be the day, in the end, that would change how I viewed my country forever. I, like many Americans, believed that there was nothing anyone overseas could do that we could not stop. I was complacent. I had never once even thought about watching the news for any reason. I didn't think it affected me at all. I never before had watched the State of the Union or the State of the State address because I had no interest in politics.
No longer. No longer do I remain ignorant of world events because of some pie-in-the-sky promise that the United States would never be threatened by any outside sources. Of late I have been dealing with bouts of depression because I feel unable to achieve any sort of notable success in my life. Every so often, though, I receive a reminder of who I am and where I come from. I received such a reminder on September 11th, 2oo1, and now every year since. When the twin towers fell, I could not take my eyes off of the television. this marked the first time I had EVER been glued to a news story and remained interested. To this day I see the footage of the two planes crashing into the tallest buildings in our country and a lump goes into my throat, both for the victims and for the families of those victims. I remember now with apprehension a trip my mother, sister, and aunt took to New York one year well before the attacks, and could not help but think "what if they had gone this year?" One of the places they had visited was the World Trade Center. You now realize why I revisit this thought every year.
It has now been eight years since a pledge was made to rebuild the World Trade Center into a stronger, larger, more prominent building that would be known as the Freedom Tower. In that eight years, only now have steel beams begun to spring up towards the sky, and the end of the project. Is this what we've become as Americans? When the Empire State Building was started, it took 400 DAYS to complete it. Why has it taken eight years to do today what it took 400 days to complete during the GREAT DEPRESSION!? Another example is the Hoover Dam. It took FIVE YEARS to build that 700 foot tall dam that provides so much of our electricity, compared to EIGHT YEARS to put up a few steel beams on the first floor of a building that was conceived of at the beginning of the new century and millenium?
Some will call these irresponsible questions. Some will call me a Republican shill for asking them. Some will simply insult me and expect me to stay silent, but I WILL NOT! I will NOT forsake my inalienable right to freedom of speech just because a few loons don't want me saying what I feel MUST BE SAID! Will the politicians in Washington EVER LISTEN TO THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE?! If they refuse to hear us then we must remember that WE have the power! WE THE PEOPLE WILL BE HEARD!
The day after the attacks, we were not divided by Red States and Blue States, Democrats and Republicans, Left Wing and Right Wing. We were AMERICANS, and only Americans. We need to readopt that mindset. We need to remember what UNITES us rather than what DIVIDES us. When we stand together we, the American people, can overcome ANY OBSTACLE, be it Communism, Fascism, the Great Depression, taming the Wild West, or what have you. NOTHING CAN STOP US! WE MUST REMEMBER THAT!
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