The word “terror” has never better described the state of our nation that during these past few days. Sept. 11, 2001, will go down in history books as a day of infamy, but to people on campus at ETSU, many ramifications of the attacks are yet to come.
Lindsay Williams, a child and family studies major, was working at the on-campus daycare center when she heard the news of the terrorist attacks which destroyed the World Trade Center twin towers and part of the Pentagon.
Williams’ first reaction was disbelief, but when classes were suspended at noon, she began to realize the serious nature of the news reports.
Her thoughts turned to her roommates and their father, who lives in New York. They were part of countless Americans frantically making phone calls to the East, trying to discover the fate of friends and relatives who were in the world’s spotlight.
Lisa Pierson, a senior public health and dental hygiene major, also mention disbelief as her first reaction to the news. “I thought it was a joke,” she said. “It was eerie.”
Pierson had been at Dulles airport in Washington with her son over the summer.
As the disbelief turns to shock, and for many, anger, the nation is asking what actions can and should be taken to make things right again. People are looking for an outlet for their anger, and some innocent Americans are becoming targets.
Pierson spoke of an Indian woman she knows. “She was talking about going to the grocery story and people are looking at her like she was flying the plane, and she’s not even Arabic.”
News reports tell of shootings at mosques and scared Muslim families receiving hate messages from their neighbors.
Pierson fears that any military action taken by United States will be answered by more violence. “I don’t want to be watching and waiting for the next 15 years . am I going to be at the airport the next time or am I going to be working at the CDC?”
The question of U.S. relations to Afghanistan is also being considered, as many students are interested in the fate of oppressed Afghan women.
“If we cut off all ties to them, I worry about what will happen to their people, whether we bomb them or not,” Pierson said.
Amber Frye, a sophomore, believes that a military attack that would endanger innocent people is not the answer to our nation’s problem.
“After seeing what it’s done to us, I don’t think we should do it to them. I just don’t think that we need to go kill more people,” she said.

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