American history Essay

In American history, at that place have been numerous instances in which a greater pointedness of damage and death which yack awayed forbidden shores. In the three day battle of Gettysburg, much than 51,000 sol pass byrs fell. (Burns, 1989) The invasion of France on June 6, 1944 took more than 6,000 lives. Pearly Harbor claimed more than 2300 lives and introduced Americans to a war that would fritter away more than 400,000 lives. However, the pointts which transpired on kinsfolk 11, 2001 will always serve as one of the defining moments for those who lived through it. As with the assassin ion of John F.Kennedy was to our parents generation, September 11, 2001 will be for our generation. The news is filled with a multitude of calamities. The Asian tsunami in December of 2004 which claimed 200,000 lives or in all number of blushts which cut a toll on the human population, due to the fact that the evening news is saturated with events which should horror us scarce which re ally dont as we have become apathetic against its stimulus, there are manytimes, study tragedies which affect the average American in ways that are problematic to explain and fathom for those who are on the out placement and looking in.This was the movement for Natasha capital of Mississippi a 27 year old African American female who lost two family members on September 11. For her, the day is more than safe a time to rally behind the troops and to take time out of ones day to remember those who died. For Natasha Jackson, 9/11 does non stop tho continues 365 days a year. Natasha Jackson grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. Her father was a police chief in DuPage County Illinois. Natasha was in college while the events of September 11 were transpiring. At the break off of her 8am class, which terminate at 915, and upon walking to her next class, she was overheard rough chew up near a major news event.She did non realize exactly what had happened until the prof in her next c lass, told her and the rest of the class what had happened. All of the details would non be k instantern until months and years later. However, by the time the second trim hit the brood, it had become obvious that this was no accident. We had foretasted that all of the more than 50,000 large number, who, on a daily basis, worked in the Twin Towers, would have been able to rise the building while it was still standing. This was not the case for nearly 3,000 people who perished when the towers fell.(Burns, 2003) Since I had not fill outn any ashes in parvenue York or who were on those planes that were hijacked, I was glad that as for me, the event did not take any of my loved ones. However, I knew that was not the case for thousands of families across the country. America was instantaneously at war to defeat terrorism and this would take an additional quaternion thousands American lives to date with more casualties existence reported daily. I did not know that the events of September 11 would affect somebody so besotted to me as I would finally find out to be the case.Towards the end of September, 2001, as clean up crews were still busy picking up the twisted metal from the site of Ground Zero and plans for a come up against Iraq were being discussed, I learned that two of Natashas relatives, were not lone(prenominal) affected by 9/11, save were real killed when the first tower fell. It was something that was unvoiced to realize had hit so close to home even when it was not my relatives that had been affected. More than six years later, Natasha sat down to talk to me about the events of that day and what she felt then as well as now. Natasha commented That day is one that I will never for thrum for as long as I live. I was horrified by what I saw on television. However, my reaction was one filled with a maculation more panic than my classmates who were watching the same thing as I was. I knew that my aunty, Marilyn Jackson worked in Tower One at jog Fitzgerald. I would later find out that nearly 800 employees of that firm would die on September 11. (Burns, 2003) When occupyed exactly what her initial reaction was, Natasha still finds it ambitious to accurately explain what she was tactile sensationing. I though that I was seeing a movie and that the events in unexampled York was an examples of special effects or something. I really didnt know what to think.I sat transfixed at what I was seeing and I didnt get around to occupation my father until a couple hours after the towers fell. I just didnt know how to react. In the immediate hours after the first tower fell, I actually ran into Natasha. We were not our jovial self for obvious reasons but I assumed that it was due to the events in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon precedent that day. I did not think to ask Natasha if she had known anybody who was killed that day. I knew that she had always had a love affair with New York and hoped to complete her M asters horizontal surface at New York University one day.I did not know that she had two relatives who lived there in the city. Natasha then explained what her immediate actions were in the hours succeeding(a) the destruction of the first tower and then the second. I called my father to ask him the whereabouts of my aunt. He said that he didnt know and that he would not know for some time. Not just was the event really chaotic, but the fact that he was a police chief in a Chicago suburb, his force went on high alert as there was rumors that The Sears Tower talent be targeted. People didnt know what to think.Everything was a mess. I was a mess as well. I pride myself on being a rational and independent someone. I never get anxious but am alternatively calm and have a strong demeanor. That day, I was not able to contain my composure which whole compounded my feelings of anxiety as I did not know how to put on my thoughts. Natasha then comments on the time when she heard that her aunt was missing and then, a few days later, believed to be brain dead. The next few days, nobody knew where my aunt or many of the other were. I waited by my phone and could not go to class.I seek to separate myself from the various news accounts as there was no shortage of coverage on television. I tried to go for a walk or to go and work out. My attempts did not come to fruition and it only served as a momentary fracture from the inner pain and confusion that I was feeling. Eight days later, I received a call from my father who told me that my aunt was probably dead and the possibility of there being any survivors of the attack from those who were in the towers at the time it fell, was very unlikely. The country would later learn that there would not be a single survivor from the fall of the Twin Towers.It seemed unlikely, even before being told that was the case, that anybody could survive that. I still held out hope until I received that call. The terror that Natasha w ould feel, would not be confined to only the loss of her aunt, who alone, would be more than anybody could really fathom. What served as a beginning of added stress, not only was Natashas aunt murdered on 9/11, but so too was her uncle. The aunt was from her fathers side and her uncle came from her mothers side. Gerald Smith was a firefighter and one of the 343 New York City firefighters who died trying to save others in the Twin Towers.(Burns, 2003) It is really hard to fathom such a combination punch that misguided and wickedness people gave to our family. I had been close to my uncle as a child but when he moved to New York, we lost touch. However, as it is the case with nigh people, those who touch their lives as a child, even though communications might have dropped off, they still reside in an important part of that persons heart. I had not known that my uncle was still a New York firefighter. However, when my mother called me, not more than two days after being told that m y aunt had died, I was told that my uncle died as well.There are no wrangling that could describe what I felt that week. I could not go to class, I barely ate and did not take any visitors at all for the rest of the year. If somebody told me that they I had their condolences and that they understood how I felt, I was so ferocious inside, that I had to restrain myself from simply punching them in the face. And I am not a violent person by any means. I have strong opinions but usually respect others and would much rather avoid an insulting argument than to engage in one. I just became a very angry and bitter person. In perspective, I asked Natasha how she now viewed 9/11 and all of the ramifications that it has now had for the country. I have considered myself a Democrat for most of my life. However, even though the war in Iraq has been mishandled on a dozen different fronts, I become so angry when I hear politicians from both political parties proclaim that we should simply admit Iraq and that terrorism is really not worth fighting. It seems to me that since America is a very disposable society, people have forgotten what happened on 9/11.I will never forget seeing people jumping super acid feet to their deaths while the towers burned. When I hear reports of Glasgow, London, Bali and Madrid being victims of more terrorist attacks from a small portion of the Muslim community who have been steered the wrong way, I become very frustrated. Does one have to lose two members of their family in a terrorist attack to remember that America is a very chancy place and that there are millions of people who would love to attack this country. I still am a Democrat and believe in the principles of the party.I just feel so frustrated, as does most Americans, about the take aim of unity and as a result, progress that is being achieved in this area. Natasha dog-tired most of the Fall of 2001, dealing with the deaths of her family members. Since there were no remains tha t were build of both my aunt and uncle, I really didnt know what to do. I still go to their grave sites but I know that their body is not there. In time, the body would slowly disappear but I wanted to have the same experience that anybody would want who receive some comfort in visiting the gravesite of their loved ones.At least, I wanted to experience that but have been unable to. However, I feel to boot cheated by the fact that the only place where I can visit my aunt and uncle is in my mind. When asked, Natasha speaks about her life since 9/11. I eventually graduated college and even though my plans to receive my Masters Degree at New York University did not pan out, I still feel close to that city and always will. I went to Boston to work for the egalitarian National Convention in the months leading up to the 2004 election. With a degree in political science, I always have been politically certified of my surroundings.I knew that I needed to expand my sphere of influence be yond college and felt that my effort in the DNC, although not successful, still did prove some good. I honored my aunt and uncle in that respect. It was a trying but successful time for me as I actually got to meet chairman Clinton while dining at a restaurant in Boston. I walked up to both him and his wife Hillary and introduced myself beyond the Secret Service and Mr. Clinton actually said that he had heard that we were doing good work. Perhaps that was just rima oris service but it was a great honor for me nevertheless.