.  .  .  .  .  . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
   .  .  .  .  .                                       In dedication to
 .  .  .  .  .  . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm     everyone who was lost
   .  .  .  .  .                                        or lost someone
 .  .  .  .  .  . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm      September 11, 2001:
   .  .  .  .  .                                           Anada 441
 .  .  .  .  .  . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
                                                     "Regret, Wonder, and
 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm           Barbarism"         
                                                         by Alexearth
 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
                                                           09/30/01
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        I decided to go and get my hair cut, no big deal.  So the lady doing
 my hair starts talking about the military and I'm all "Yeah I'm enlisting
 with the army."  She responds that if I were to be sent off she would give
 me a free haircut.  She goes on to mention how some kids she had spoken to
 earlier in the week about the events and said they wouldn't serve in the
 military.  The lady said she had no respect for these kids.

        It's not as though I am doing so in light of current events, I'm just
 a poor college kid looking for money to get into grad school and the army
 can certainly help me financially in my academic pursuit.  I began talking
 to recruiters last month and the consequences led me to the point in time
 where I became conscious about the terrorists acts.  I had overslept for my
 8:30 class and was getting ready later than I'm accustomed to.  The phone
 rings.  I answer and hear from the navy recruiters (who I had an appointment
 with at 10:00 that day): "We must cancel our appointment, we were ordered to
 evacuate."  What the hell?  I don't know what's going on, plus I'm only half
 awake.  I turn on the television for something to do while I eat my Captain
 Crunch and turn on CNN because it's my favorite network, and not because I
 was expecting anything newsworthy.

        I remember I was mad at President Bush because a new EPA report came
 out about dangerous arsenic levels in drinking water.  Well, Bush was the
 one who deregulated this damn toxin from one of our most dependent
 resources.  Anyone who voted for this asshole is a bloody idiot...

        Then I see the images of people fleeing the White House with the
 caption 'Terrorist Attack' or 'Attack on America' or something of the like.
 It is unreal because we have an ungodly sense of security in our homeland.
 I've been through LAX and I couldn't even understand what the employees said
 because their accents were so think and I wondered how well they spoke
 English.  We, Americans, are number one, or so I've been told.  They replay
 the footage of a Boeing crashing into the World Trade Towers; I stare with
 the awe of people gawking at vehicle accidents that I have previously hated
 so much.

        I never was a person with great nationalistic pride.  After all, this
 is the land we slaughtered the Native Americans for and grew our cash crops
 with slave labour.  We let big business walk over the consumer and poison
 our waters.  We like Hollywood showiness over helping thy neighbour.  We get
 involved in other nations' conflicts to protect our interests and make pacts
 that assure we get the cheapest petrol by bombing sanitation facilities and
 preventing food and medical supplies into the Middle East.  America is not
 the graceful lady of liberty for those who live beyond her walls.  It took
 me by no surprise these attacks occurred, for we have made many enemies and
 have had many attempts of such terrorism before.  This time it was so
 successful and hit our pride by symbolically attacking our political and
 economic capitals.  May peace come to those people who were suffered injury
 and loss.

        I will not go out and buy a flag and display it proudly from my front
 yard.  I don't think I'm a bad American.  I grieve for those who have
 suffered and I believe we should and will strike back.  We have bullied
 around other nations and yet I can afford to be hypocritical and say stand
 up for ourselves because we have the means to do so.  This is what that game
 of politics is all about.

 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
 . . .------
  * * ------  by Alexearth                           (c) anada.net  09/30/01
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