Student essay on 9/11 photography, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Luminvinnmtive CLiition by the students nf Shjvxx.-sdnt I ligh Sehixd

As Etiquette Slips, Patriotism Flies High During homeroom, we were Patrick Mangan told to evacuate the school. The grammatically incorrect “America Under as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery.” Yet We followed the general Attack; I Survive the Attack,” is just one of the slo­ some New Yorkers have been spottecl attending mass of students onto the gans printed on a cheap white T-shirt depicting vigils or just walking the streets with a flag flap­ second floor. Suddenly, a the World Trade Center with the American flag in ping in the breeze behind them, as they wear it as loud rumble could be heard the background. Street vendors all over the city a cape. and people rushed In from are cashing in on any item—from belt buckles to Old Glory should also never be used in any the first floor. Chaos erupt­ camouflage hats—that incorporates America’s form of advertising. A number of Stuyvesant stu­ ed. I was standing on the Stars and Stripes. dents who wore Polo Jeans Company and The flag waves from car antennae, Old Navy T-shirts emblazoned with the stairs that led to the first offices, and houses, and is proudly flag on the school’s first day at floor with my friend Wendy worn by New Yorkers across the Brooklyn Tech should consider at the time. Both of us stood city. While our newfound sense themselves warned. frozen in confusion until a of patriotism may be considered Senior Gary He has used the man yelled at us to get down. admirable, many are unaware American flag as wearing apparel At that, I grabbed hold of of, and may be breaking, the by fastening one to his back­ Wendy and together we ran flag’s rules and regulations. pack. He also admitted that the down the stairs. Title Four, Chapter One, flag probably touches the —Jerry Wei, sophomore Sections One through Eight of ground when he sets his bag U.S. Code and Executive down. When informed that he Order 10834 clearly define broke two rules of proper flag While everybody else was proper "flag etiquette” to the etiquette. He said, “I will remove walking up the West Side slightest detail. For example, it it it’s disrespectful,” as he highway, I roamed down­ “The flag should not be draped improperly folded it, and placed town trying to find a place over the hood, top, sides, or _ it in the outside pocket of his bag. where I could be put to use. I back of a vehicle.” * A street vendor named found the volunteer triage Do not expect to be Si Thomas, who works at the corner of center in the square at Center approached by one of New York’s East 56th Street and Lexington and Worth. In the square, the Finest for covering the hood of your Avenue, sells anything from pins to hats wounded were being seen to car with the Stars and Stripes, because the decorated with the American flag from a rules of flag etiquette are not actual statutes. collapsible table. The Vietnam War veteran while volunteers were asked However, protocol says that “when the flag is dis­ looked past the flag’s many technicalities to the to give their blood, clothing played on a motorcar, the staff shall be fixed firm­ larger picture of patriotism. “United we stand,” and assistance in any way ly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender.” he said. possible. I gave my shirt to be When the flag is folded, a particular method But according to U.S. Code, if you were plan­ used as a tourniquet. The should be followed that involves folding it into ning on covering your ceilings, decorating your whole experience felt surreal, triangles. car, or setting your dinner table with the the dust blocking out the sun Furthermore, “The flag should never be used American flag, think again. and the sound of buildings collapsing in the distance. We rode into the choking smoke, only to be turned away because air conditions were The Minds of the "Mindless" not safe. I stayed around any­ Jeff Delauter way through the night as they trained me in rescue Newspapers have described the September Osama bin Laden is a Muslim extremist procedures. We never ended 11 attacks on America as "mindless” terrorism, who believes in a pan-Islamic need to overthrow and President Bush has referred to the perpetra­ secular regimes and install purely Islamic gov­ up going in. However, I will tors as “evil doers.” "Mindless evil,” a faceless ernments. He, and those like him, are commit­ always remember the enemy, is something everyone can rally against. ted to exterminating "infidels” in Islamic lands. moment I mentally prepared But the coming “crusade” (again Bush’s descrip­ They see the U.S. as an infidel because of its myself to write the word tion) must be more than a simple rallying of continued financial support of Israel, a nation "DEAD" legibly on foreheads American forces to support the cause. that he, like many Muslims, regards as an alien of the victims I would find in Not all Arabs are terrorists just as not all presence in Islamic land. They resent American black marker. white Southern Americans were in the KKK. Yet support for the Shah of Iran, American presence —Anonymous Stuyvesant millions in the Arab world hate the United States in the Arab holy land of Saudi Arabia during the student and what they feel it stands for: modernization Gulf War, U.S. sanctions against Iraq, and that and cultural incursions into the Arab world. the support America gave to Afghanistan against Islamic religious extremists have threatened the Soviet Union was withdrawn when the con­ No one I knew personally their own governments long before they turned flict ended. was working there, but I saw their hate toward the U.S. Syria, Egypt, Algeria Hatred for the West among Arabs began a man falling ... and that's and Tunisia have all faced and mercilessly long before bin Laden took up nis battle against someone's father or husband crushed extremist groups. Many Arab regimes, America. In his 1973 book, Tne Arab Mina, or friend. And he had a suit controlled by corrupt dictators, nave deliberate­ Raphael Patai devotes an entire chapter to “Why on. ly deflected domestic criticism from themselves the Arabs Hate the West.” Professor Patai, who —Anonymous Stuyvesant onto America by allowing their press to freely taught at Princeton and Columbia, suggests that student critize America. because Arabs were at one time superior to the Although Bush directly addressed Arabs and West culturally and militarily, there is a resent­ Muslims in his September 20 speech before ment of modern Western superiority. In the past Congress, great care must be taken to avoid thirty years American influence has multiplied, widening the gap that already separates the U.S. from the Arab people. continued on page 19

18 The Spectator . Fall 2001

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