It's one year Later...
Whakum's Memorial 1AM.

     It's one year to the day after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The world changed that day, as did the lives of many many people. Some people's lives changed in the most dramatic way of all: They Ended. Without so much as a corpse to bury, the families were left to struggle onward bravely. In my mind, it is not those who died, nor those who fought, but those who remain, who are most courageous. I sit here in my chair, miles away from where the events took place, and yet I cannot help but feel for those who lost. If Osama wanted to make our lives change, then he succeeded. If he wanted to stop us, he failed in a way he cannot begin to comprehend.
     The thing about Americans is that we do not give up. We will struggle, we will appear defeated, but we will rise above. We always have, and always will. Why? Because the flag stands for our freedom, and they can't take that away. When American people do something, we do it for everything. We don't just sit around and twiddle our thumbs, nor do we back out when it's too hard. It's like taking an incredibly difficult set of classes. You think they're impossible, and you know you won't do as well as you like, but you keep going. Why? Because. If you drop out before you get into the real essence of the class, you'll never know how hard or easy it really was. Dropping out is quitting, and America, when it sets its mind to it, doesn't quit, falter, stop, or lie down and die for anything short of total oblivion. Some people call it obstinacy, pig-headedness, or just plain stupidity. Call it what you will. I prefer the term Freedom.
     Freedom. The ability to do what we want with our lives, no matter what the risk or cost may be. The terrorists don't want to let us do that. They're totalitarians, really. They don't like freedom. And for those who quit when they can go on, quit while they're ahead? I pity them. Why? Because they'll never know. They'll never know: what if?