Today's Terror
The world is ravaged by terrorism. Murderers are everywhere. Frightening everyone with their vicious ways. No one is safe; not when you do not know who is who, and if you can trust one another. People are being killed off like flies, and something needs to be done about it. Parents should not fear for their child's life, nor their own. Terrorism is everywhere.
Dear Next President:
The country you are being handed is not perfect- no country is. However, in order to make it safe and congenial, some problems need to be addressed. One such problem is terrorism. Thousands of people all around the world are killed by terrorists each year. In 2014 alone, 32,658 people were killed, and in 2015, another 28,328 people lost their lives. These innocent people died due to heinous acts. Kids and teenagers should worry about what outfit they are going to wear to school that day, not lockdowns. What they are going to do that weekend, not bombing and murders happening around the world. All people should be able to walk down the street without fear of being attacked. Parents should feel comfortable letting their kids be outside alone, not wondering if this day might be their last. The people that are being killed by terrorists are only everyday people: friends, family members, neighbors, peers, coworkers, innocent lives.
Acts of terror are a lot more common than they might seem. Since the death of Abraham Lincoln, 216 major acts of terrorism in the United States have occurred, and out of that 216, 76 of them happened within the last 20 years. That is about 35% of all major terrorist attacks in the past 150 years that have happened recently. Most of these terrorist attacks happen successively with breaks between major assaults. Additionally, since 2013, the amount of terrorism that has happened has increased by 35% and the number of fatalities has increased by 81%. If this pattern continues, over 100 attacks will happen within the next 20 years and more the next. That is why something needs to be done. Terrorist attacks could cause friends, family, or yourself to get hurt or killed and this should not happen, or even have to be thought about anymore. Nobody should have to spend their life speculating whether a terrorist could be strolling down the street side-by-side with you, sleeping next door to you, driving down the same road as you. We should not have people at risk for being injured or killed by terrorists.
Even though many believe that terrorists are Middle Easterners, religious extremists, and other dangerous groups, most of these abhorrent crimes are committed by Americans. Since 9/11, most terrorist attacks are performed by homegrown radicals. The crimes are not tied to one specific religious group, ethnicity, country, but could be anyone. There are lone wolf terrorists, groups of people, religious extremists, right-wing extremists, left-wing extremists, any type of person. This makes terrorists much harder to identify. Since a terrorist could be anyone, people cannot trust others readily. You have to be cautious with who you talk to, go with, etc. You cannot live your life openly anymore because you cannot identify a terrorist by appearance. People all around the world have to be skeptical of one another and not be able to trust everyone. Trust used to be something that happened naturally, but, now, because of terrorism, people can trust each other willingly because they might be someone different from who they claim to be. We need to stop terrorism so that it is not a worry in people’s lives anymore so that they can feel safe, happy, trusting of one another.
Sincerely,
Sydney