From Nandini Jayakrishna: Should we forget 9/11?My name is Nandini and I'm a sophomore concentrating in International Relations. I'm still deciding between the Global Security and the Political Economy and Development tracks and I'm hoping this class will give me a better sense of what I'm interested in. This is only my second IR class after the introductory PS40 and I feel that it will deepen my understanding of the major themes of the subject. Understanding the present is difficult without a basic knowledge of the past and I'm sure that as we cover the evolution of the study of IR, I will be better able to understand how we've come to create the world we live in today. On the morning of September 11, 2007 I was watching CNN and I heard the reporter refer to the "sixth anniversary of 9/11." Honestly, I almost couldn't believe that it had been six years since the tragedy. I was in India when 9/11 happened and I remember my whole family watching the towers collapse on TV. My older sister had to fly to the US on the 28th and the most important decision my parents had to make at the time was whether to let her go. In the end, they decided they would. A neighbour told my mom she was a very "hard-hearted" mother for making that decision. Seeing my sister off at the airport was one of the most difficult moments of my life as I tried to battle the thought that I might never see her again. I guess my story just shows that even though my family was very remotely connected to 9/11, it still had a huge impact on us. I can probably not even imagine what families who actually lost their loved ones went through. The question shouldn't be whether 9/11 should be remembered or forgotten. It is difficult to forget an event of that magnitude because it shocked the entire world. And yet, it does pale somewhat in comparison to the plight of those who continue to live under terror and lose their family members on a daily basis in places like Darfur. 9/11 has made us more aware of and sensitive to the miseries of the hundreds of thousands of people around the globe. We realize that we're not the first ones experiencing death, pain, and terror. We realize that we're not fighting death, pain, and terror alone. Many rightly argue that 9/11 has been used as a tool to spread greater violence in the Middle East. I feel that we should always remember 9/11, but do so for the right reasons. We should continue to empathize with those who suffer and not bring more violence and suffering to them. Posted by Matrix Admin on September 18, 2007 02:13 PM | Permalink |
