With
my head held high and my emotions running wild, I push open the heavy door and
enter the environment where I will spend a great chunk of my time over the next
few years. As I walk down the unfamiliar hall, I feel as if I have everything
under control. All of a sudden, I see the nervous, almost scared faces of my
friends as they struggle to master the combination locks on their purple
lockers. That is when I realize
that I am a freshman, no longer the ruler of the school.
In a total panic, I whip out my class schedule and try to recall where
the rooms are located and what my teachers look like.
I comprehended all of this three days ago at freshman orientation, but a
lapse of memory has suddenly caused me to forget all of that vital information.
Since then I have memorized all of that knowledge and am now comfortable
and confident with my surroundings. From
my freshman year up until my senior year of high school, I have dealt with many
different experiences.
One of the changes I have experienced from 1998 to 2001 has to do with the safe feeling that students used to possess in their educational environment. Never before did I perceive the threat of other students. After the Columbine school shootings and the attacks on America on September 11, I find myself watching my back more closely than I did before. The lack of respect certain individuals have for other human lives is devastating. I personally agree with Andrew Carnegie when he says, “To kill a man will be considered as disgusting [in the twentieth century] as we in this day consider it disgusting to eat one.”
Carnegie
seems to be implying that murder was an unjust and unacceptable crime years ago.
He explains that today our world sees murder from a totally different
perspective. In 2001, a single
terrorist can manipulate others into killing thousands of people and not feel a
single bit of remorse for his repulsive actions.
Bin Laden shattered the hearts of many people in many different countries
when he deliberately set up a pre-meditated murder plot to kill thousands of
innocent people. The everyday lives and the feeling of peace Americans used to
experience has now been altered forever.
Next,
someone once said, “To preserve peace, we need weapons of smaller and men of
larger caliber.” Although we do
not know who wrote this or when it was written, the author probably meant that
the prestigious and powerful leaders of the world need to come together and make
compromises instead of initializing the now too common trend of war and
hostility towards other countries. This quote also ties into the devastating
occurrences on September 11th. Osama
Bin Laden has definitely not proven himself as a man of “larger caliber.”
His actions only led to more violence and terror towards mankind.
With
the knowledge and advanced technology that the world has obtained over the
years, it is easy for the individuals in command to ignore the peaceful acts of
reconciliation. The confidence our
countries have in our troops, fighter planes, bombs, ammunition, and nuclear
weapons is overwhelming. If we did
not have the asset of all of these weapons, more talking and less fighting and
killing of innocent civilians would occur.
Albert
Einstein agrees with the unknown author when he says, “I don’t know what
kind of weapons will be used in the third world war, assuming there will be a
third world war. But I can tell you
what the fourth world war will be fought with-stone clubs.”
Einstein’s hypothesis seems all too true. He knew before the thought of a third world war even occurred
that it would be extreme and the world as we know it would take a sharp turn for
the worst. When Einstein refers to
“stone clubs,” he’s implying that the devastation the world will encounter
will leave us with scarcely nothing and take us back to the days of the cavemen.
Both Einstein and the unfamiliar author truly know that compromise over
combat will only happen when we no longer have the resources to battle.
The
thought of a peaceful world rid of hate and bloodshed is a concept that many
humans obtain but do not act on. Few
people actually take part in making the world a more peaceful place for all. Another unknown author researched and said, “Peace is rare:
Less that 8% of the time since the beginning of recorded time has the
world been entirely at peace. In a
total of 3,530 years, 286 have been warless.
Eight thousand treaties have been broken in this time.” These facts
produce a repulsive tendency throughout history.
Trust and compassion have been terminated and replaced with insincerity
and hatred.
War
continuously surrounds us whether we realize it or not. We are constantly
confronted with wars against hunger, poverty, abuse, and fear. As I have grown
up and experienced both the Gulf War and the September 11th tragedy,
I understand that conquering hate, terror, and dictators usually concludes in
warfare. Although I would like for all countries to strive for world peace, the
past history proves that it is almost impossible for that universal hope to
transpire. When I was a freshman, the thought never even occurred to me that in
just three short years there would be a possibility that some of my good friends
could be off in another country fighting for our sovereignty.
That thought is scary and sad, but we all have to face it whether we want
to or not. Freedom has its price and in our country full of opportunity, it
cannot and will not be compromised for anything.