By J. Parker Adair
When we think of the impact of Sept. 11, we think of how devastating it was to our country, our people and our economy. Americans tend to forget how many different nationalities were represented in the World Trade Center. People from all nations, all religions, and all regions from around the world were present in those two towers, and people were affected globally by the tragic events that September morning.
Ismaila Fall, a UNO student, comes from the nation of Senegal, which is 98 percent Muslim. He says Senegal is very Democratic, and they even have a Catholic President. Senegal maintains a long history of International Peacekeeping, which is extremely important in some hostile areas like Saudi Arabia and Algeria.
The attacks had a huge impact on that region of the world, because even though there are warring nations, terrorism is not a frequent occurrence. Fall believes the U.S. could have perhaps avoided the attacks had President Bush met with Palestinian President Arafat but he does think that it has a great deal with the fact that the al-Qaeda are strictly against Imperialism.
Violeta Moldova, a student from former Soviet Republic, was very shocked when she found out what happened. The attacks affected her family, as her mom was set to fly to the United States just two months later, and the family feared that she would not be able to travel Internationally after the attacks. Moldova expressed her fear for the one-year anniversary, "I’m still afraid for this Sept. 11. What’s going to happen?"
Countries in Asia felt the economic crunch following the collapse of the World Trade Center. Rieko Ito, a student from Japan, was in the U.S. for only a month when the towers fell. She was personally affected when traveling; she had to go through strenuous searching so that she could fly. She added, "I really feel sorry about the victims. We feel it’s not our problem but in this case, we relate so strongly. We have to think about this problem for us." Japan had been victim to religious terrorists just four years ago.
Chulwoo (True) Park woke up on the morning of Sept. 11, and received an e-mail from his friend back home in South Korea that read "war occurred" and warned him to come back. He saw the events unfold on TV thought the problem would get bigger and that it would affect the ongoing conflict between the Communist North Koreans and his Republic of Korea. The two have been warring constantly for years with constant battles and submarine spies. There is the constant threat of terrorism coming from the North in the very hostile Korean region. South Korea is very dependent upon the United States and feels every impact of economic fluctuation to a much higher degree, so the recession following 9-11 devastated the Republic of Korea. Park added that a great deal of conflicts worldwide come about due to misunderstanding.
"I just wish people would understand each other."
Sometimes Americans may forget there are other countries all over the world that are affected by every little detail of our everyday life. As an economic and political leader, it becomes important for us not to forget them. It truly is a small world after all, and we all have to share it.
