kyoungman

The changes on the world after 9/11 were and still are dramatic. Prior to September 11, 2001, everyone in the US had a false sense of security that was violenty shattered when the terrorist flew the airplanes into the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon. Today we as a nation have to suffer because of them, the terrorist, whether it is the small things like have to deal with extra security at major events or at the airport, or the major effects like the uncertainty that when you step onto an airplane that you are going to make it to your destination at the other end in one piece. Another huge thing that has changed since 9/11 are the wars in the Middle East. The war in Afganistan has almost been forgotten and the war in Iraq is considered a stratigic disaster. "Now days I have learned to accept that we are fighting for an unknown cause. I don’t know how our great country could stand behind a war that makes no sense, but I hope that someday, maybe, I will be able to find at least some personal reason this war was worth fighting for. But right now it sure doesn’t look that way"(__A Soldier's Story__). This quote shows how many American and soldiers feel about the war these days.

We as a country struggle and accept the violence going on around the world at the same time. Many returning soldiers come home and have domestic issues. “Its’ not the reverend, its’ you. You have changed Jim. You aren’t willing to be a part of this family. You are always in a bad mood. You don’t like to be with the baby. We can’t stay with you anymore”(__The Return Home__). The quote, although taken from a fiction story, is a very real situation that comes up with returning soldiers. Divorce rates are very high in military families. In the general population it almost seems that these struggles are really driving apart the country not uniting it. The country know has to deal with two sides of the Iraq issue, whether to bring the troops home or keep them in Iraq. The country (the citizens) seems know almost to accept the violence. They see it everyday on the news and think nothing of it. Although there is a little fear, the fear that followed 9/11 is now gone. The country know seems to be moving on in another direction. One that is unknown.

The lesson that can be taken from these stories is that we as a country in general, don't believe in this war. It reveals that we don't really care about the people in Iraq or Afganistan and would rather come home. "Honestly, I can live with the fact that civilians are dying here; it’s the fact that my own people, my men, are dying here that really gets to me"(A Soldiers Story). The stories show that our virtues when they come to human life are almost none existant unless it is some one close to you. These stories reveal that we need to leave the Middle East because all of the trouble it causes us.