Living in the United States, we are under constant the constant threat of terrorism and being attacked at any place, in any moment. As Americans, especially in the post-9/11 world we live in, unfortunately almost everyone has some connection to a terrorist attack.
The religion class I am taking this semester is called “Sacred Spaces: from Mt. Sinai to Ground Zero” and we go on multiple field trips to analyze religious and secular sacred spaces. We took a field trip to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City. The timing of our trip was rather unfortunate because it occurred a few days after a man influenced by ISIS, the most prevalent terror group since al Qaeda, stole a van and drove it into a crowd of people right near the 9/11 Memorial. Our field trip almost got cancelled due to the danger of the location surrounding it. This was the largest terrorist attack in NYC since 9/11. My teacher decided to go through with the field trip because she felt that it was important we didn’t let them control our lives and we can’t shelter ourselves. She also thought it was important since we were going to a place where the biggest terrorist attack on US soil took place and we needed to pay memory to the victims. In class prior to the field trip we studied about the roots of terrorism in Islam and everything that took place leading up to the attack on the World Trade Center. Personally, my family didn’t know anyone who was killed in the 9/11 attack but the terrorists who flew the planes, took flight lessons in my town. I lived in a small town in Florida until I was 10 years old and the terrorists took lessons at a flight school 10 minutes from my house and lived very close to me. My mom had seen them at the library a few times and recognized their pictures when they were on the news. I saw their registration forms for the flight school in the 9/11 museum and instantly got chills. The terrorists took the lessons until they learned how to fly but dropped out before they learned how to land and no one was suspicious of it. We have defeated al Qaeda with the killing of Osama bin Laden but since the root causes of hatred against western civilization in the Middle East has not been defeated, new terrorist organizations, like ISIS, will continue to take over. We may not be able to prevent against these attacks but we can control our we react. For example, the way the Boston Police department reacted was very organized and efficient to get the victims to safety, unlike the handling of 9/11 simply due to the mass scale of it.
I like the point you made about your teacher going ahead with the field trip although the attack had happen only a few days before. She is right in the sense that we cannot be scared or let terrorists dictate our life, because that is what they want. If we want to eradicate terrorism in the world, one part of that is not letting them affect us or react to their attacks in the way they want or hope. It is also important to understand the root of the problem and why terrorism occurs in the first place. We cannot eliminate the problem unless we understand why it occurs; or else we end up in meaningless wars and unnecessary death. This can help us stop large-scale terrorist attacks in the long-run.
ReplyDeleteThis is really good. This line really stuck out to me- "We may not be able to prevent against these attacks but we can control our we react." Many reactions to terrorist attacks are based out of fear. Although it is understandable, decisions based on fear end up having the opposite effect. Many polices throughout the world end up creating more terrorists. For Instance, the Bush administration choosing to invade Iraq in response to the attacks on 9/11 ended up hurting more than helping. By ending the Saddam regime, it created a power vacuum in which ISIS was created. Had we not gone into Iraq ISIS probably would not have formed; however, fighting terrorism will always be a losing battle because once one threat is eliminated, more take its place. By thinking things out calmly and rationally, we can do more good than harm instead of making the problem worse.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that the Boston PDs response to the bombing was a example of allowing the terrorists to win? The entire city of Boston was put on lock-down and their were tanks rolling down the street. It was in my opinion a gross overreaction that lead to a level of paranoia and fear that would not have existed if they had not declared a lockdown. This decision by BPD showed terrorists around the world that small but culturally significant strikes can more incredibly effective
ReplyDeleteI disagree because the Boston PD went on full lockdown in order to capture the terrorist and put him through the United States Justice System in order to show terrorist groups that the United States will stop you and punish accordingly. We went on lockdown in order to protect the citizens of the United States and not allow the terrorists to do anymore harm than they had already done. Yes, terrorists actions can shut down a whole city but the point of it is to show that we will not just sit back and watch this occur.
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