News of Bin Laden's death has rocked this country. The news cast I was watching, as I'm sure many other have, focused on the reactions of people all over the country. The newscast focused a lot on the families who lost loved ones during the 9/11 attacks and how they felt about the death. Specifically, they focused on the children born after the attacks who lost their fathers in 2001.
Like many other Americans, the past few days I've been thinking about that fateful day in 2001. I was 10 years old and in 4th grade at Neubert Elementary School. I remember knowing SOMETHING had happened but students were kept in the dark as to the actual events of the day. The school left that (like they rightfully should) up to parents to talk to their kids about. Sure enough, I went home and my mom sat me down and in brief words explained to me that someone had crashed planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and that thousands of people had died.
We all know that September 11th, 2001 changed the world forever. You hear about it all the time: "before 9/11...". What I've come to realize is that I don't remember this world "before 9/11". Of course I can remember things about my own life but I don't remember the world. I was too young to understand what the world was like before and I was still too young in the immediate aftermath to understand how it had changed. What I wonder now is how will the world change again as we digest Bin Laden's death and prepare for what consequences it will bring. Some people speculate this will have serious consequences and terrorist groups will react strongly to the death of a symbolic leader while others believe his death will have a positive impact in taking down the power of terrorist groups.
We're in a funny transition period right now and it's hard to say what will happen next. I'm interested in seeing how the world changes this time around now that I'm old enough to be able to understand what is happening in the world around us.
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