Boston Strong

As long as I remember marathon Monday has been a cheerful beautiful day in my life. Those memories of sitting on my fathers shoulders so I could see the runners, all the way to the age of 18 when I ran in the Boston Marathon a few months before leaving to boot camp. This historical event has given me some of my most cherished memories. After finishing my four years of service, I was beyond ecstatic to once again continue the tradition of attending this celebratory day.

The day began, as it always had, with breakfast with friends. Then, like most young adults in Boston, it was followed by good drinks with my close friends and a great environment overall. Having been gone for the previous four years, I was determined to be at the finish line to cheer on the finishers crossing the famous line downtown. That day we eventually made our way to my friend’s parent’s house which happened to be a relatively close to the finish line.

We went up to the roof deck and continued to celebrate the day. It was at this moment when my heart stopped to the sound of a all too familiar noise. Having been around the military, I have heard my fair share of explosions. It is most definitely a noise that is hard to forget. Instant panic of family and friends who currently were at the finish line took over me. I immediately ran to the street and rapidly began making my way through the fleeing crowd towards the finish line. I eventually was stopped by police and the National Guard. They all refused to let me continue there, regardless of my pleas. After finally complying I began to call all who I knew were there, just to be disheartened by being unavailable to make a call due to the large amounts of people attempting to do the same.

Thankfully on this day, all close to me were unwounded by the two bombs set off on this tragic day, but the overwhelming helpless feeling I felt is something I will never be able to forget. It is hard to take much of a learning experience of this day. However, something that can absolutely be taken from this, are the actions taken by the country, and more specially the beautiful city of Boston.

From the heroic acts of those in the blast area, to the marathoners whom continue to run to nearby hospitals in order to donate blood. It fills me with hope and pride to be an American. Furthermore, the city of Boston’s efforts through organizations such as The One Fund is a remarkable example of what this city can accomplish in order to overcome a tragedy, and begin putting it back together. From this tragic day we were shown, once again, how strong we Americans are. It shows we can be knocked down, but we will again stand.

As Boston did, we together became strong through the support of each other. We volunteered, donated, and inspired each other to be better and stronger as individuals. The only mistake we could possibly make is to allow what happened in this day to fill us with fear and not partake in this upcoming marathon Monday. If we do this, the terrorist will have won. From this experience, I learned how vulnerable we truly are. I also learned we had become very complacent since 9/11, but most of all I have learned how beautiful and amazing the city of Boston is, and inspired by this city I will be standing on April 21, 2014once again at the finish line, until the last runner crosses that blue and yellow line.

The American World After 9/11

On the Morning of September 11^th, an al Qaeda group hijacked four commercial airplanes and carried out the deadliest terrorist attack in history on American soil. On this tragic day two airplanes were flown into the world trade center buildings, another into the pentagon with the third failing its attack on Washington and crashed in an open field in Pennsylvania. This day has will forever be a dark day in American history; furthermore these events launched us into the longest war in US history, as well as changing all aspects of American life. From a complete invasion of our privacy with the passing of the patriot act, to a constant fear of future unexpected terrorist attacks the government has the American people in anxiety and dependent on the government, which is right where they want them.

Since the attacks of 9/11 the government has significantly escaladed its level of security, some argue that such actions were an overreaction, but it absolutely was a necessity. From the forming of the Transportation Security Administration better known as the TSA, to the expansion of the National Security Agency (NSA) the government is now able to monitor at a larger scale, and has a better ability to prevent future terrorist attacks, as well as monitor possible terrorist and their connections. Additionally to advancements in such security measures, America has made tremendous strides on the war on terrorism, besides the claimed victory in Iraq, the US has killed Osama bin Laden and has been victorious in fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

It would be foolish to argue that we are not in some aspects safer than we were pre 9/11, but how much safer are we really and at what cost are we achieving this level of security? It has been estimated that annually the NSA has a budget of 10 billion dollars, which comes directly from taxpayers. This of course is an approximation, due to the fact that the NSA falls under a protected category of “black” programs and its actual spending and budged is top secret. Along with this ridiculous spending, Americans have lost almost all of their privacy, thanks to this patriot act which was passed on by the government as absolutely paramount to our security, the NSA now has the ability to tap every USA citizen as they wish, with out really getting a consent from the American people.

Since the war on terrorism commenced in 2001, the US has spent a total of 1.492 trillion dollars, not only has it had little success with its mission, it has drastically been a factor to our developing debt. In addition to this financial problem, the war has had a greater cost that is unacceptable, with the death toll of 4,800 killed and 31,965 wounded in Iraq, with an additionally 2,229 killed with 18,675 wounded in Afghanistan, American families continue to struggle with struggles of war, while the government appears to have moved on to spying on its own citizens. Having sacrificed so much we should expect remarkable victories on the “war on terror” but as we have recently seen, much has been paid in vain. Having ended all military operations in Iraq and empowering its military and police to take control of the city, al-Qaeda forces have reclaimed the city of Fallujah, and have been carrying extremely violent attacks in Baghdad, which gives little credibility to the US in its actions in Iraq, and gives little hope for its future in Afghanistan.

The United States government might claim victory over the war on terrorism, but when taking into account the drastic cost it has had on the US economy and the sacrifice made by its people, there doesn’t seem much to celebrate over. Furthermore the American people has unwillingly lost its privacy, and have found themselves living under a microscope while paying for a war that not many support and all hope it soon comes to an end.

References  

Amadeo, K. 2014. What Are the Facts About the War on Terror Costs. [online] Available at: http://useconomy.about.com/od/usfederalbudget/f/War_on_Terror_Facts.htm [Accessed: 3 Mar 2014].

Sahadi, J. 2014. What the NSA costs taxpayers. [online] Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/07/news/economy/nsa-surveillance-cost/ [Accessed: 3 Mar 2014].

Statisticbrain.com. 2014. U.S. War Death Statistics | Statistic Brain. [online] Available at: http://www.statisticbrain.com/u-s-war-death-statistics/ [Accessed: 3 Mar 2014].

Washington Post. 2014. Al-Qaeda force captures Fallujah, site of bloodiest battle of Iraq war. [online] Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/al-qaeda-force-captures-fallujah-amid-rise-in-violence-in-iraq/2014/01/03/8abaeb2a-74aa-11e3-8def-a33011492df2_story.html [Accessed: 3 Mar 2014].