The American Essay, Research Paper

At night I toss and turn watching my mind?s replay of people jumping out of the

WTC, a hundred stories up. I hold back tears at every US flag flying at

half-mast, at every sign of solidarity. I struggle to talk, to smile, to hope.

I?m explosive. My fury is the rumbling building; my heart pumps jet fuel. My

mind burns and tears at the walls of reality, and my world crumbles. All that is

left is a bent and smoldering fury and not a soul upon which to direct it.

War. Our flag waves war. Red, war. White, war. Blue, war. I see war in

our faces. I hear war in our voices. It parades down streets, it titles our

resolve: New War. I have heard citizens call for war, my father demand war, my

country declare war. My humanity screams war! And then falters without a guilty

people, without a guilty country, without a guilty religion upon which to wage

it.

Yet I struggle to find an enemy; we all struggle to find an enemy to

rise against and crumble. I want to destroy their cause, their existence. I want

to rage. But I am left unaided to commune with my country, the world –

humanity. We weep amidst rubble and smoke, death and fear. We weep at the

tragedy; we weep without justice.

Do we strike? Bomb Afghanistan, bomb the Taliban, bomb countries that

may have transgressed against us? There is our war! Do we not have the greatest

power in the world? Our might is legendary. Our power, beyond challenge. Why

should we entertain repose, even for a moment? Let us strike first and then

consider!

Why find the Terrorist who wielded destruction on America? Are they all

not to blame? Why wait? We know who they are; we know where they are. So, let us

bring the mighty hand of America upon their doubtful heads and shatter them into

a thousand pieces like so much sand in the wind.

But is that not what we should fear? From one hateful group, we spawn a

thousand. In one death a thousand stand furious, determined. Will not their

violence reap violence a thousand fold? And thus we will be forced to fight them

all, tens of thousands, and one by one a thousand born.

And should we believe that a single man could do so much? As if

terrorism sprouted from a single soul whose removal would allow tranquility?s

return? And if the Terrorist falls, is not a martyr made? How many will rise in

his place? How many doubtful followers will we convert into doubtless enemies?

All of them we will fight! Each wave, more fanatical, more driven, and with less

to lose.

We must react. Our people lay dead beneath the collapsed symbol of our

economy. Our military smolders in the heart of our capital. Our markets collapse

and the world shudders. We have been kicked while we were down. The insult is be

great; the temptation to rage ever greater.

We can snuff out the terrorists in their havens. We can destroy whole

continents, the world a hundred times over. And that is precisely what it will

take to rid the world of terrorism. The sorrow of their losses will deliver

despair and cull fanaticism. Are we not blood thirsty now for our losses? Are we

not ready to wage war for our brothers and sisters? Do you think they will be

any different?

What are we about to do? Why have we declared war against an unknown

enemy? Do we have drugs in the streets even after decades fought against them?

Was Vietnam not enough? As if trading sands for a jungle changes the game. We

have lost two buildings and countless lives; need we erect a wall with countless

names, again?

War?s price: innocence, family members, love, peace, economies. What is

the price of war fought solely by Americans at the cost of Americans without

clear objectives, with a faceless enemy? The future.

Let us act but act prudently, backed in each step by the resolve of the

world against the evils of terrorism. Let us walk hand in hand with the UN. Let

us hold our brothers and sisters not damn them to sandy graves. We can rid the

world of Terrorism but not with the lonesome, steeled resolve of the United

States. Only the full support of a world intolerant of anarchy and terror will

deliver us our goal: Liberty.

Regardless. I am an American, thus ?Here is to America, may she always be right.

But right or wrong, here is to America!?

Best Wishes,

The American

31e