For Students, Dilemma and Tragedy

For college students like me on the East Coast, Sept. 11 was terrifying and too close to home.

Many of us from Southern California pictured ourselves on the plane that had departed from Boston to LAX. Perhaps we were flying home that morning and happened to be taking that flight out, a frightening possibility. Or what if our mothers and fathers were returning to California after a weekend trip for the annual Parents Week?

It was all very real for us, and the what-ifs that plagued us almost a month ago have led to no answers.

But we don’t need answers to want to stay active and involved in the war against terrorism. Although uncertainty about our future continues to affect our lives, our attention is focused on the victims and how we can reach out to help them on the home soil, our own battleground in New York City.

Many of us have even traveled to see ground zero to see the blackened rubble and to volunteer to help find any bodies under the wreckage.

Those who could not help manually organized blood drives on campus and sponsored collection centers for the American Red Cross.

Because we are university students and the future leaders of America, we recognize the need for youthful action, energy and support.

Today on campus, it is difficult to see Army reserve students in uniform walking around, attending class and talking with friends. We picture them in fighter planes in strikes against Afghanistan, the sky filled with dark smoke and amid the sound of piercing explosions. We fear for their lives, wondering if they will still be sitting behind us tomorrow in English class or if they will be called away to duty.

We fear for our own lives and imagine the idea of a draft and the picking of lottery numbers televised.

It is important to recognize that if many of us seem aloof, we are torn, standing on a borderline.

Some are confused about whether we should be mourning for the victims or being emotionally detached out of respect for these same sufferers.

Many of us have no real connection to anyone in the World Trade Center that day. Therefore, we are bystanders without direct attachment to the situation.

We should feel grief and sorrow, but we are careful. We want to pay our respects, but to say things like “We will not forget you” and “We will never be the same again” or even to shed a tear seems a violation on those who have really lost.

On the day of the attacks, college campuses were simply silent. Classes had been canceled for most of the day and we were warned to stay inside, in case further attacks should occur.

Phone lines were jammed as we scrambled to call our families in New York and Washington, praying that everyone we knew was safe and accounted for.

At night, we were restless, gathering in central areas to watch the president speak and to comfort those in need of a kind word or an embrace. Almost immediately, counseling services were offered and prayer vigils and rallies against terrorism were organized, with thousands of students lighting candles and showing support for the victims and their families.

Modern-day heroes emerged, and we celebrated their courage and acknowledged their acts of bravery and compassion.

University people and others genuinely have reached out in all ways possible. Every Web site, whether it be for a clothing store or a computer company, has a message on its home page reflecting sadness over the situation and posting phone numbers for contact and victim information.

What society faces now and in the future will be very difficult. So much must be done to repair buildings and streets, and mend the hearts of U.S. citizens.

Unfortunately, war appears to be inevitable.

Nevertheless, as we pick up the pieces from the damage done on Sept. 11, we cannot deny the one true sentiment felt around the country and on campus:

It truly is a great day to be an American.