A More Patriotic Entry

September 11, 2010

Day 16

            I’ve never been out of the country on the anniversary of 9/11/01. Remembering the day gave me, and the Americans I was with, a real sense of patriotism. In this strange environment we 47 minors lose a real sense of who we are. Here we’re trying to lose our sense of identity, doing our best to blend into the Italian way of life, sharing their pride their hometown, learning their traditions and assimilating into our new families. September 11^th is a bona fide, albeit harsh, reminder to us all that we are Americans, that on this day, almost a decade ago, we were all receiving the horrifying news that people we didn’t and would never know wanted to hurt us.

            I was, and still am, woefully ignorant of how this news was received in other countries.  In America even the younger children know the importance of this day, people who escaped the plane by pure luck or circumstance sigh in relief that they escaped a terrible, if heroic, death, and families who lost people weep and receive extra pity on this day. However, when we hear of bombings in other countries, we frown and sigh and spend an extra five minutes at breakfast repeating how sad it is. We might even bring it up to discuss in a history class, but ask us on the anniversary of that bombing 9 full years later and we would all be hard pressed to recall the significance of the day.

            As I was chatting with Maya, she mentioned that she will soon turn 18, and in Afghanistan there is a girl who will turn 18 on the same day as her. When they have both reached this age of maturity the most horrific thing my American thing has “experienced” heard about and been within 1000 miles of, will be the bombing of the twin towers on September 11^th. She then said that the Afghani girl will have gone through so much more. Her life will have been filled with much more tragedy, and that that fact alone belittles her own sorrows.

           

X

Thalia

PS. The thing I did that I referenced in my video is actually very hard to guess if that video is the only thing you have, so I will give a hint on here: I walked away from it with both more and less.

I think I’ll continue hinting until someone gets it, either here on the blog or on the video.