Since the September 11 attacks, America has become united and more patriotic than ever. There are American flags adorning homes, windows, and cars of almost everybody in the nation. Since the attack, there has been a positive change in Americans. We have rallied together to raise money and there has been an overwhelming response of volunteering from the public. In fact, during the three days after the attack, the Red Cross received over two million calls from people wanting to donate their blood and help the victims in any way that they could. Volunteer work has gone up and there are a numerous people putting together charities and relief funds for the victims and their families.

             This event has changed the lives of many Americans. From the victims and their families, to people who have helped out this event has marked an important part of the lives of Americans. There has also been an increase in church attendance. The week after September 11 over 60 percent of Americans attended either a church or a memorial service.

            There have been hundreds of relief organizations formed since the attack. Some of them are Americares Heroes’ Fund, Robin Hood Foundation, Rebuild New York Fund, and many more. All of them have one goal in mind: to raise enough money to help all of the victims and their families. So far, they have been very successful. By October 16 more than 1.04 billion dollars had been raised by these organizations. Though the donations have slowed down since the beginning, the American Red Cross is still receiving a lot of volunteers and blood donors. In fact the Red Cross has raised 452 million dollars. Online communities have also gotten a lot of donations. Sixty-two million of the 452 million dollars that the Red Cross raised came from online communities. The September 11 Fund brought in 171 million dollars, while United Way is distributing the 150 million dollars that they raised from the September 11 Telethon Fund. The Salvation Army raised 35 million dollars and Catholic Charities USA raised five million dollars.

Celebrities have raised money as well. There was the celebrity telethon that aired on almost every channel. There have been many benefit concerts in which celebrities of all different genres of music have collaborated so that they could help with the relief efforts. 

My question is, how long will all this goodwill and charity last? People have come out and helped all these victims now, but will there still be an outpouring of donations and volunteering for a year, or even for another month? The amount of donations has already started dwindling down for many charities.

Why did we have to have a disaster to be able to become patriotic again? We should be patriotic year round, not just when disaster strikes our country. For the first time in four years, I actually said the Pledge of Allegiance in class. Should we not salute our flag all year round? But that’s another thing that we have a choice of doing. We can choose to salute our flag or not. When a school gives the students an option of whether they want to salute the flag, and they decide not to, does that mean that they are not patriotic?

We should be giving and charitable all year long, not just during this time. What I think is sort of ironic is that people don’t donate to charities for the sick or homeless children but when it comes to a disaster, the donations start rolling in. Don’t the sick and homeless need the money just as much as the victims? I would like to see somebody act charitably all year long, not just when we are struck by a disaster. 

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