Adjusting to Terror

The Slumbering Giant

Since the tragic events that took place on September 11, 2001, America has been on a constant vigil. Every citizen, man, women, or child has been on the lookout for anything that may be considered a threat to our country. It isn’t out of fear or guilt that we Americans must be on constant watch, but it is out of a sense of duty to protect and preserve our ideals that deep down each and every one of us feels. Since that tragic day eleven years ago Americans everywhere have had to adjust to the constant threat of terror not just as individuals but as a society as a whole.

Americans as individuals have always been very strong. People like George Washington or Martin Luther King Jr. have always been there as shining beacons of what a true American should believe and fight for. Where ever they saw injustice, be it being terrorized by a king that is thousands of miles away, or being put down below others just because of the color of one’s skin, they fought tooth and nail against it. This is how we as individuals must fight against the fear and terror that our enemies try constantly to instill in us. The enemy may be able to strike anywhere and anytime, but individual Americans are constantly ready to rise up and become soldiers to fight back. It isn’t out of some religious fanaticism we are ready to do this. It is out of the deep love and pride that we feel for our country and its people that we are willing to fight and lay down our lives so that others may live.

America as a society has changed a lot since that fateful September afternoon. Much like after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in WW2, the slumbering giant that was America is now fully awake and ready to bring everything it has to bare against its enemies. Every citizen, male or female, young or old, is now a ready and willing soldier in the war on terror. In a famous speech President George W. Bush said, “You are either with us… or against us.” This is statement is very true. I believe that...