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5 years later – Save us Oprah 1

Tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of the horrific September 11th attacks. Every person in North America and many other places around the world remember what they were doing at the exact time they found out about the commercial airliner attacks on the World Trade Center.

As a 21-year student working in a large office building in downtown Toronto at the time, the news hit me very hard. Growing up in a safe country free from any kind of war, a potential attack of such massive scale was previously unimaginable.

I was working in the 3rd tallest tower in downtown Toronto at the time of the attacks. CNN had indicated that all U.S. flights were being diverted to land at the Toronto airport. One thought going through my mind was what might happen if those planes that were diverted were hijacked. My first instinct was to get out of that office building, walk away and try to sort through the thousands of thoughts going through my head.

While walking away from the downtown district, I couldn’t help but imagine working quietly at my desk and looking out the window to see a commercial airplane heading straight toward me. I would probably have had a very brief heart attack preceding my imminent death. I also wondered how helpless and afraid I would feel if I had to make the decision between burning to death or jumping out of the burning building. I also have extreme sadness for the hundreds of people who were in the offices on top of the point of impact not having anywhere to go and probably knowing that they weren’t going to survive. Some people had a chance to have heartwarming last goodbyes to their loved ones before they perished.

I have a friend whom I met through work who was working across the road from the World Trade Center on September 11th. When he describes to me his experience that day and how he had friends who perished, it really puts it into perspective. This is not something that these people asked for. They were not in the armed forces serving for their country; they did not make a choice to risk their life. They were just ordinary people like you and me who were working in the wrong office tower at the wrong time.

The whole attack was an eye opener for me. The criminals who conducted this act wanted the world to know what their people had gone through as a result of wars at the hand of the world’s superpower. They wanted to exact revenge for all of the innocent lives that were lost in their countries at the hand of the military machine. They succeeded in getting their message out, they succeeded in exacting revenge, but the result only created more hatred in the world. Now the last 5 years has seen revenge for these actions with even more hatred being born. This vicious cycle of violence has made the world very unstable, and I’m not sure what the future holds.

Imagine Oprah Winfrey becoming the forty fourth President of the United States. Who can really have hatred for a country run by an amazing person like Oprah Winfrey? She has real feelings for others and she’s very good at listening to other people’s problems. Her attitude is what more world leaders need. They need to listen to others instead of dictating their own agenda. Have a heart, but also be firm.

John Lennon had a dream, and he’s not the only one:

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

One comment on “5 years later – Save us Oprah

  1. NABH May 30,2011 9:57 am

    I really appreciate your post and you explain each and every point very well.Thanks for sharing this information.And I’ll love to read your next post too.
    Regards:
    NABH

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