"I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag" - Students Speak Out on Osama

The headline jumped out of the page on the morning of September 12th, 2011: "Hijacked Jets Destroy Twin Towers and Hit Pentagon in Day of Terror."

I was in second grade when it happened, more concerned about accumulating green stickers than keeping up with foreign affairs. Terrorism was something I had never been accustomed to as a child, nor had any of us. When my teacher turned on the television to witness the commotion, I lost my innocence. People jumping out of buildings to save their lives. A pile of lifeless bodies. A shattered American flag. Why would someone crash two planes into a skyscraper full of people? Who would kill 2,974 people?

It took us a few years, but we found the answer. His name: Osama bin Laden, the same man responsible for the U.S. Embassy bombings in 1998. 

When Barack Obama announced that the Navy SEALs had infiltrated a complex and killed Bin Laden under his command last weekend, the scene that followed in most households could be compared to the moments after Santonio Holmes caught the game winning pass in the Super Bowl against Arizona. We smiled. We jumped up and down. We hugged our families. But most importantly, we felt proud to be Americans.

“When I heard the news, I felt relief for all the victims’ families and pride for our country after a decade-long fight,” junior Ashley George said. 

Instead of showing his body off like an Olympic gold-medal, the decision was made to put him in the ocean. Complying with bin Laden's religious beliefs, the United States took the measures to hold a proper Islamic burial.  

“We are hypocrites. We murder a man and then respect his religious practices. I don't get it,” senior Ashley Scheider said. 

Of course, there will always be worries regarding retaliation. With the growing popularity of social networking sites like Twitter, Osama's followers have gotten their opportunities to post threats towards the United States for the entire Internet world to see.

"I believe it will spark riots, and in some cases, insanity. But we just took away the face of al-Qaida. We didn’t necessarily take away everything,” senior Desiree Mooney said. “There’s always going to be crazy people in the world, its just a matter of being ready to take them.”

Still, there is nothing we can do about that. I feel safe when I walk outside because I believe in my country. At this point, let's just be patriotic and enjoy the moment. We got him, and there is no more escaping.

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?