America finally runs out of luck

THE EDITOR: You may want to publish this article written by Christine Hannays two years ago when she was 14 years old, she still attends Bishop Anstey High School. JOANNE HANNAYS. On the 11th of September, 2001 disaster of unlimited proportions struck the United States of America. It was on this day that three hijacked American Airlines passenger aircraft crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City and one into the Pentagon in Washington DC. A fourth hijacked aircraft crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Luckily, for the majority of those working at the Pentagon, damage was only done and lives were only lost at the place of impact.

The twin towers, however, were another story. The extreme heat caused by the burning of large quantities of aviation fuel and the vibrations caused on impact eventually resulted in the crumbling of both towers. All that was left in the aftermath of this horrific event was physical, emotional and psychological pain, bodies, blood and more bodies. It was a clear demonstration of the results of hatred, oppression, injustice and provocation. My initial feelings towards those hurt in the attack and those who lost a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a husband, a wife, a friend or other loved one is that of complete and honest compassion, sympathy and distress. My other emotion is directed at the United States of America as one institution. It is an institution that has oppressed others as far back as anyone can remember, an institution that has taken sides in matters that did not concern them and caused wars that were pointless and a waste of resources, money, energy, time and most important, lives.

These were the lives of soldiers and civilians alike, whose deaths helped in keeping their countries “Third World”; whose deaths caused a mother, a sister, a wife or a child to cry out in the night because their son, brother, husband or father was never coming home. An institution that within itself had so many of its own problems and so many hypocrisies but still saw the need to go to countries millions of miles away where the education level was so much lower and manipulate the people there and force their culture and ways of thinking on them. America was never punished for these injustices and I believe that it finally has been. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, “Injustice anywhere is an insult to justice everywhere.”

The Americans’ apparent surprise at the attack shocks me because as Napoleon said, “When one is attacked, the only thing left to do is to counter attack.” America’s enemies were bound to counter attack some day. It was only a matter of time. Even though I think that the United States got what was coming to them, I do not approve of the way in which the world solves its problems. That is, with violence. For calling it a war or a battle does not hide what it truly is, murder. It is murder because no one on this earth created life and no one has the right to take it away. I pray for the day when the United States and the rest of the countries of the world finally realise that hate only breeds more hate. I hope that it stops before we all destroy each other.

CHRISTINE HANNAYS
Bishop Anstey High School