911

On the eve of September 11 2007, I was about to go to sleep when my bedroom door swung open. "Prakriti, you have to come see this", my father yelled. My family spent the entire night in front of the T.V. watching in horror as one of the most influential countries in the world was bombed repeatedly. U.S.A. was attacked and over the hours the casualties was summed. My country was facing its own crisis (one that is yet to resolve). People were killed on a daily basis in my country so as a twelve year old this new number of 2974 didn't strike me as being any diffrent from the thousands i had read about in teh local papers. The truth of the matter is that it was. The news of America's misfortunes made the headlines of every single country in the world and affected every single aspect of human activity.

Perhaps 911 was the incident that triggered my interest in International politics or International Relations. How do countries interact with each other? Who gets to decide whose problems should make the headlines and grab all the media attention? Why did the death of 2974 affect the world in more ways than say the murder of more than 800,000 who died in the Rwandan genocide? i feel like international relatios might give me a bettr insight at answering these questions.

Six ears have elapsed since that day yet people haven't moved on. We still feel its effect even in regular activities be it while boarding a plane where you have to throw away a brand new tude of face wash because it contains more than 100 ml of liquid or when you turn on the news and hear about the war in Iraq.

It is impossible to let go of a loss so big but it seems like holding on to the past is causing nothing but trouble. People should move on from 911 as there are bigger problems plageing the world today. There is the environment that needs to be saved, the millios of people suffering from aids who need a cure, countries that need basic infrastructure and children who need a future. While we wallop in teh sorrows of 911 these otehr issues are taking a rear seat. It is about time people stopped living in the past.

P.S. I haven't decided what I want to major in yet.

Posted by Prakriti Thami on September 19, 2007 09:09 PM | Permalink

« From Ben James: Should we forget 9/11? | Main | From Nandini Jayakrishna: Should we forget 9/11? »