At the advent of Thanksgiving in Massachusetts, 7,626 miles away in Mumbai, otherwise known as Bombay, India, terrorists launched a large-scale attack against civilians. By setting off bombs in hotels and gunning down people on the street, they hoped the frenzy would stir Indian anger and lead to a war between Pakistan and India. Over 173 people were killed in the duration attacks.
The following Sunday, they began to end and the terrorists dispersed. We all came to school on Monday, and occasionally, students actually acknowledged these attacks. Although they were not in America and the amount of people who died were far fewer than 9/11, there was notable sense of apathy, or ignorance, among students. Few seemed actually disturbed by the attacks; life moved on.
It seems that the student body, and people in general, are compassion-fatigued. As the media continually bombards us with constant negative imagery of violence, disasters, and disease, we have perhaps lost the ability to have reaction to gravity of these situations. It’s just another car bombing, right? Just another wild tornado. Just another kid dying in a place hundreds of miles away. These days, it’s hard for people to feel empathy for others if they are not directly affected themselves.
That weekend, there was also an event posted on Facebook about wearing white on December 1st to to show respect to those who died from the attacks. On Monday, the amount of people who wore white were slim, in contrast to the sheer amount of green that seizes our hallways on Darfur Days. And, even then, one must wonder how many wore white clothing coincidentally.
This leads to the question whether outward representations of respect, i.e- wearing white clothing, really portray the true extent of which a person has actually internalized and reflected upon an events and its effects. Probably a really small quantity of us actually do. Events like these are supposed to change us, move us, and anger us. Yet, we continue to walk the hallways seemingly unaffected. After all, c’est la vie, right?
What is unfortunate is that it takes a major event like a terrorist attack or a natural disaster for us to reflect on our world. Every day, attacks of all sorts occur whether by a terrorist, a family member, or the weather. Most “attacks” go unnoticed or stay out of the public eye. It makes us wonder: if we are wearing white in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, what color should we wear tomorrow?
the terrorists didn’t “disperse” they were killed or captured. People from lexington should know the difference.
Nobody’s stated goal was to start a war.
We shouldn’t let terrorists terrorize us, the fact that people keep on living is direct defiance of terrorist’s real stated goals.
your last line makes no sense, but good job trying to be melodramatic.