6 Months

6 Months

Today is the 6-month anniversary of September 11 and they're turning on the "Tribute in Light" tonight...twin beams of light meant to represent the Twin Towers. I stayed late at work so I could watch it. I couldn't bring myself to watch the two-hour special they aired last night showing the rescue teams heading into the towers and the people falling from the sky. Sometimes I'll close my eyes and remember being in the car by my office that morning and watching the second plane. A variety of thoughts flew through my head that morning, but even as the first tower stood smoking, the one thought that never went through my head was that it was going to crash into the World Trade Center. I thought it fitting that I watch the tribute from the same place I saw the towers destroyed.

Sometimes I read newspapers and even though I know most journalists are diehard liberals what I read still depresses me. I feel like People don't see what September 11 meant to our futures as Americans, what it's like for people who were closely touched by the ugliness of that morning. I read articles about people who live here, standing on their soap boxes and saying crap like "America deserved it." *insert crap here about the UN sanctions on Iraq* No one is more responsible for those sanctions than Saddam Hussein. If Iraqi children are dying of hunger because of his choices then that's his fault. His first responsibility is the welfare of the Iraqi people and our first responsibility is the welfare of the civilized world. Which country isn't doing its job?

No country is perfect and no country's history is perfect. This country has made numerous mistakes, mistakes which have negatively affected other nations and the American people. They're still making mistakes. But there's no other country I'd rather live in. There are opportunities for people here that don't exist anywhere else. Both my parents were immigrants. Both my parents weren't wealthy growing up in the Philippines. But here I am. I get a bi-weekly check for a relatively nice amount (may I remind some of my friends who hate their salaries that according to the national census, the average household income of a family in the U.S. is $32,000) for doing something I like. I'm not picking corn. I'm not laboring in some field. I'm not banding together with young men and wreaking havoc worldwide because we're unhappy with the economic state of our country while Israel is prospering. Guess what makes that all possible? Capitalism and the "evils" of America's foreign policy. Because money is the root of everything we've ever done that could be labeled as "heinous." I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say I don't like my job and everything that comes with it. I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say I don't strive towards the goal of being able to buy extravagant gifts for my parents to thank them for working so hard to ensure my future. I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say I'm not working towards the day when I can buy a big house in a nice neighborhood, raise children and be able to provide them with the same opportunities I was blessed with. I might be selfish but I'm not a liar.

I get pretty fed up listening to people talk about how evil the U.S. is and how much they hate living here and wish they could be somewhere else. Bye!! Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. I have plenty of relatives in the Philippines who have been trying for years to get visas to come here. You're just taking up space.

At least people in this country have the right to say how much they hate it, protest the actions of our government and write scathing editorials about their home.