Canada Kicks Ass - Mourn All, Or Not At All

Mourn All, Or Not At All

The arrival of the school year heralds the arrival of another very

memorable event. You remember where you were when you heard about the twin

towers and the Pentagon. The one-year anniversary of the September Eleventh

terrorist attacks will revive many feelings felt on that day; fear, sorrow,

anger, helplessness, just to name a few. Many thought a third world war would

erupt, or the sky would be covered in a cloud of nuclear missiles. Mourning for

the dead lasted for weeks on end as the world struggled to comprehend the

severity of the incident. Concerns of future attacks arose. And here we are,

one year later, about to revisit the horror and anguish brought by that day.

And yet, with all the love that poured out after the attacks, by every sort of

person imaginable, we have committed a terrible crime.

Some might call it ignorance, others would call it selfishness. But how could

this be? How could we possibly do wrong when we only have the best of

intentions? If you find yourself asking these questions, then wake up. There

are a thousand places to find the answers, and I will enlighten you.

I do not deny that the September Eleventh attacks were a tragedy, and their

perpetrators were murderous cowards. My heart goes out to every person affected

that day. It did not occur to me at the time of the attacks that they only

seemed so devastating because they happened in a first-world country, in America

no less, police officer to the planet. Nothing of that magnitude had ever

happened on American soil, making the attacks an even bigger blow to the common

morale of the nation, and the world. But, take my word, terrible things happen

every day. Do you not see them? Do you not hear of them? Sadly, no. If you

wish to discover the true tragedy of our age, open a book, a newspaper. Go on

the internet. What is happening in Sri Lanka today? Oh, the same old thing:

rebel factions forcing hundreds of children to fight for them. Did you know

there are over 300 000 child soldiers at present? Id bet a healthy number of

those reading this article did not. How many people die from hunger each day?

The number is staggering, making the number of American lives lost on that

terrible day look trivial. One person dies every two seconds from hunger alone.

Israeli settlers get shot, and Palestinians get shot in return. Hate crimes

occur daily in the southern states of the U.S., driven by the unbelievably

corrupt judicial system. Friendly Afghan soldiers or civilians being bombed or

shot at by their U.S. allies. Any of this sound familiar? Surely some of it

must. And if it doesnt, then throw off the blindfold from your eyes. You

didnt put it their, the media did, simply because facing the harsh reality of

life on our planet is an incredibly dismal thought.

So what is my point, youre asking? It is simply this: if you choose, on

September Eleventh, to give a moment of silence, or a prayer, or show some sign

of respect without acknowledging the thousands of deaths that occur every day,

then you will be committing a terrible crime. Are the lives of American

civilians more important than the lives of starving children in Africa? It

would seem so, only because the state of American affairs is shoved in our

collective face, blocking out our view of the affairs of the rest of the world.

I do not hate America. Granted, I do not like America by any stretch of the

imagination, but, come September Eleventh, I will show my respect for the dead.

Yet, the American tragedy will not be the only thing I mourn. I will also be

showing my grievance for the other countless thousands who died that day. I

sincerely hope that on September Eleventh, you remember to mourn the deaths of

people all over the world, or you should not mourn at all.