“The next team in today’s performance will be Nick Ricke and Keith Vogel,” I hear the announcer bellowing over the loud speaker. My heart begins to pound. In my head I keep thinking of everything that could possibly happen during our run. Little did I know that in New York City, terrorists had hijacked two planes and flown them into the World Trade Center. As my heart was pounding before the start of my run, the hearts of hundreds of firemen and rescue personnel were also racing. I have complete confidence in what Keith and I can do together. The rescue personnel, on the other hand, were not so fortunate. They were faced with doubt of the unknown. Would they be able to save the lives of thousands of people or was it too late?
Someone once
said, “To preserve peace, we need weapons of smaller and men of larger
caliber.” Although this author is
unknown, I think this quote was probably stated during the time of the Cold War.
During this period of time, many men were trying to accomplish
dictatorship of countries in an attempt to take over the world.
Weapons of mass destruction were created during this period of time.
Weapons, that if given the chance, could destroy every living creature on
the earth. The creation of these
weapons was very costly to many of the countries involved.
Economies were destroyed because dictators were spending the money that
should have been spent on the people of the country on the creation of new
artillery. Joseph Stalin once told
the scientific director of his nuclear project, “If a child does not cry, the
mother doesn’t understand what he needs.
As for anything you like. You
will not be turned down.”
The
author of this quote might have believed that the dictators are those who
destroy peace. He/she must have
believed that the men in power should concentrate government funds on the
economies of their countries instead of spending the money on the manufacturing
of new weapons. The weapons of mass
destruction, the author apparently believed, cause people to be afraid of world
peace. If a country has superior
weapons over other countries, they have a better chance of winning the war.
This keeps the people in power motivated to build new weapons of greater
caliber. Thus, in turn, takes money
that could be spent on the economies of the countries.
When a new weapon of great power is built, it gives dictators hope of
being able to take over other countries. They
believe that the weapon is unstoppable. Thus,
in turn, helps motivate them to fight. The
author believed that if these weapons were not created, then the people in power
would not be as prone to try to overthrow another country.
I agree with the quote, “To preserve peace, we need weapons of smaller and men of larger caliber.” It is my belief that weapons of great power are what destroy peace. This is obvious in today’s society. Terrorists all over the world are taking advantage of weapons of great power to terrorize the world. These weapons are so technologically advanced that security systems are unable to trace them. Their stealth makes them almost unstoppable. As if these weapons are not bad enough, inhumane people are one of the worst weapons in the world. They are so full of hate that they will stop at nothing to destroy their enemies. This was evident with the September 11 bombing, when terrorists hijacked airplanes and flew them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and even tried to fly one into the White House. The men who committed this awful crime believed that if they killed innocent Americans, then it was guaranteed that they were going to meet their god, Alla. One ghastly man, Osama bin Laden, who believes that Americans should all be slaughtered put this belief in their minds. With men like this all over the world, reaching world peace is impossible. I believe David Harris summed it up nicely when he said, “It only takes a small number of people to create a cataclysm. I think we’re . . . a harbour for the ships of terrorism.” These men are so full of anger that they will never change their ways. They are almost unstoppable, because if they are killed they have thousands of followers just waiting to step up and be the leader. The only chance for world peace is to eliminate all of the hate in the world.
As we wait for what feels like eternity for our time, my stomach is in
knots. I know we are fast, but I
don’t know if we are fast enough. It
must have been a pretty good run, because the crowd is in an uproar.
Over the roar of the crowd I hear, “The time for Nick and Keith is a
6.5, the fastest run of the day.” Keith
and I have done what we set out to do; we have won the rodeo.
All of the hard work and dedication we have put into the sport of team
roping has paid off on this beautiful day.
As we exit the arena, we both have a look of pride in our eyes. We have beat out thirty other teams to win this rodeo.
There is not a better feeling than knowing that, on this day, we were the
best team.
On September 11, 2001, however, there was not such a pleasant ending.
Despite all of the rescue personnel’s hard work and dedication, they
were not able to stop the World Trade Center from collapsing and killing
thousands of innocent people. Some
of the personnel even lost their lives trying to save the lives of the
multitude. Such an act like this is
a horrific display of human nature. I
find it hard to believe that people in the world could be so cruel.