The student news site of Naperville North High School

The North Star

The student news site of Naperville North High School

The North Star

The student news site of Naperville North High School

The North Star

Worst of times brings out best in people

By Brett Samuels

This is the first column I’m writing this year, and for that matter in my life. As I considered what to write about, the one thing that came to mind that I kept seeing this week to write about was the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. I don’t want to be depressing people with a heavy topic, but the more I think about it, the things I saw this weekend about 9/11 were not depressing. In fact they were the opposite of depressing. In a way they were inspiring. I would even go as far to say that they were flat out amazing to watch.

To me its amazing to see a school of over 3000 kids from all different backgrounds stay silent and respectful while listening to adults who have an all too vivid memory of what happened that fateful day. Its amazing to see our Naperville North student section at a soccer game dressed in red, white, and blue, and be waving American flags while cheering on our team. Its amazing to see professional athletes who make a living on hitting the daylights out of each other come together with first responders and soldiers to hold an American flag the size of a football field. And it’s really amazing to go on Facebook and see almost every post from high school kids have something to do with remembering and reflecting on the day that forever changed our country ten years ago.

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Even though we were all in preschool, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade at the time, we all have an understanding of what September 11, 2001 means to our country, and to ourselves. It is often associated with terrorism, and unimaginable loss of life, but more than anything I tend to find September 11th is associated with a feeling of unrivaled patriotism and pride in the USA. Every time I turned on the TV this weekend I saw something that was discussing 9/11, whether it was footage of the event, or discussing what it means today. However, there were even more things I saw that reminded me of how much pride there is in our country. From American flags, to Facebook statuses, to tributes during NFL and MLB games, I saw plenty of images that reminded me of how unified our country was following September 11th. And if you ask me, that is, as they say, pretty amazing.

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Worst of times brings out best in people