By Staff
American fear
Americans have been harmed,
And all are alarmed
Scared to open their mail
Aware of the danger it might entail.
Americans are traumatized by a strange powder,
Reminiscent of the Cold War Powers
Scared of being in tall places,
Fear of an enemy who is faceless.
Americans look at each other with anxiety
Not realizing who is legally part of society,
Asians are all suspects
With a religion of little respect.
Now we are at war,
And one man is at the core,
Americans will dethrone,
The ones that caused Americans to mourn.
Americans are afraid to fly,
For fear they might die.
In a fatal collision,
Carried out in the name of religion
Our country will not rest
Until we have captured the terrorist's best,
And the punishment they deserve,
Has triumphantly been served.
Soldiers protect us at all cost
In lands where they can get lost.
These are America's braves,
Looking for cowards in caves.
They do it all in the name of the flag,
Knowing they may end up in a body bag.
No way out of this mess
Until there is progress.
Nicole Burton
Age 15
Meridian
The Sadder Story
When I woke up, my mom was crying.
I looked at the T.V.; an airplane was flying.
I just turned sixteen the day before.
I didn't want this. I wanted to snore.
The airplane in midair stopped its flight.
It ran into a building with terrible might.
Thousands, no, millions stopped, stared, and cried.
And I thought to myself, "Oh why, oh why?"
The day following, the news was abuzz.
If you asked why, they'd say, "Just cause"
American flags became all the rage
On T-shirts, bandanas, and even your sage!
Then again I stopped to ponder,
Where was our pride before this began?
Must we be shaken and stirred from within?
Can we show our true colors, lay all aside;
Are we truly Proud Purple or yellow inside?"
Stephanie Hackney
Clarkdale High School
Can it be?
To the editor:
Can it be that only a year ago we watched in horror as the towers fell?
Can it be a year since those planes carried our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles,
grandparents and children away?
Can it be so short a time since the passengers of that ill-fated flight showed us the meaning of
unconditional love by giving the ultimate sacrifice so others would not perish?
Can it be a year since those firefighters showed the greatest courage I have ever seen by rushing
into those crumbling buildings to save those people that they had never met?
Can it be a year since America's heart cried out not for revenge or retribution, but for justice?
Can it be that we will never get what we truly want from that sad September day, our loved ones
back and those planes landing safely?
Can it be?
Ben Black
via e-mail
Flying high
To the editor:
I just wanted to relay to you some other things going on in the state that people from Meridian are involved in. I was formerly a firefighter with the city of Meridian and am presently a firefighter with NAS Meridian.
On Feb. 24, 2002, myself and 12 other firefighters from the 186th Air Refueling Wing left our jobs as firefighters with the city of Meridian, NAS Meridian and Key Field Fire department on a 92-day deployment to the Middle East. Six of us, myself included, went to Al Jaber AB, Kuwait.
We were the only base in the area involved in missions for both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Southern Watch. They were deploying fighter aircraft from our base to Afghanistan on bombing missions. The F-16 that killed the Canadian soldiers came from out base.
Of the six deployed to Al Jaber, four were Meridian firefighters and two from Key Field were firefighters. We did our duty in Kuwait as firefighters. Six other personnel deployed to United Arab Emirates and one deployed to an area that is classified but I can tell you it ends in "Stan."
All of these firefighters left our jobs and went half way around the world to be a firefighter in support of the war on terrorism. While I was in Kuwait I had a few American flags flown in fighter aircraft over Afghanistan and Iraq. I will be presenting one of these flags to the Mississippi State Fire Academy in a ceremony today.
The governor as well as the lieutenant governor will be speakers at this event too. I also had one of these flags flown for the Professional Firefighter Local 52 in Meridian, since I was a part of the union my eight years at the department.
James Bunyard
Meridian