By Jane Smith

America, home of the brave, land of the free and land of plenty. America, a land that never thought it could be hurt and yet on September 11, learned a very hard lesson. We open our hearts to strangers, we give our money to poor countries, and we get attacked by our own commercial jet liners. Why, how could this happen?? We are suppose to be able to control these things with all the expensive gadgets that the country is always building. Yet, some strangers get through our sophisticated security systems at the airport and are able to take control of our planes. Talking about a wake up call, we got it.

Before all this happened, Americans took alot for granted. We live in the land of the free, home of the plenty maybe too much plenty. Compared to some countries, even our poorest of poor are rich compared to what they have. We always want more, our kids want $l00.00 toys and every new thing that the toy market can come up with. We own cars that cost more than some people make in a lifetime in other countries and yet, we forget just how lucky we are.

Why did it take Septemer 11 to make us fly our own American flag? How many people even owned a flag? When and where did we lose the respect we have now for our country and all that it means? Even "We the People" never meant that but we the race or that race but not "we the people". Why were we not a family before this attack and where did all those prejudices go after it?

America, you have your "wake up call:". You have a second chance to do it right, to be united and realize that we are all one nation under God. This is the time that we cannot just think of ourselves and our own little family but all families, all people. Yes, those attacks woke the GIANT again but it should have never been asleep. We took too much for granted, in fact, like a Russian friend told me once, "Americans are spoiled rotten." We can go and buy a loaf of bread and never stand in a line for it, we have toilet paper which is hard to find in some countries, we have everything and we took it all for granted.

September 11 our lives changed and we remembered what was important to us, our country. Isn't it a shame that we never felt this way before now, we never flew our flag at our homes and said "I am proud to be an American". We never prayed so much for guidance and the healing power of prayer.

For me personally, I will never take what I have for granted, I will never take the many priviledges I have in this country for granted and I will never think that just because you live in America, you cannot be hurt. September 11 proved that for all Americans. Wake up America, we have been given a second chance, let's not blow this one.

Jane Smith



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