Americans are capitalistic, we do everything for money. I am sure that it pisses people off in other countries where we wage war in order to gain capital. This was their response. Fuck you America! As much as 9/11 was a very tragic event that I would never wish upon anyone, it was a bit of a wake up call. I am a self centered, money hungry and selfish American. Sometimes I sit back and think about all the opportunities life has given me and how I have taken advantage of most of them. Then I think about what would have to get inside someone’s head to make them fly a plane into a large building. Did they not have the same opportunities that I have had? Sometimes I forget because I am emerged in this little world I call my life. I work, I shop, I play sports on the weekends, I take trips to fun and exotic places and I work some more. Throw in some equally selfish friends and that’s my life. Sure I recycle, I donate to charities and open doors for old people but I have never really suffered. I have never been hungry. I have never watched fighter jets fly over my country and drop bombs. I have watched a plane fly into one of the Twin Towers. Before 9/11 I was never political. I was in college when it happened and the extent of my political knowledge at the time was what I learned in Political Science 101, a required course. Now I try to be a little more political, but as a gay woman most of my efforts are thrown into the homosexuals for equal rights arena.  That’s me being selfish again, only political because it’s affecting me. 9/11 did open my eyes to a lot of issues but since the only way it has actually changed my life is higher gas prices and taking my shoes off at the airport, I really don’t understand what I could be doing to make it better. Do I stop driving my new car and save gas?  Do I stop shopping for new clothes and stimulating the capitalistic economy?  Do I protest President Bush and his personal oil crusade? No. I don’t want to.

Tabitha Straws