My thoughts on your thoughts: 9/11

I'm starting to feel slightly disgruntled at the way some people are approaching the subject of the ten year anniversary of 9/11.

I see so many people referring to it as the "worst act of terrorism ever committed", or the "greatest tragedy" - a lot of superlatives being thrown around, when it should have been a moment that opened our eyes to the fact that the United States is just as vulnerable and just as flawed as the rest of the world.
September 11, 2001 was a tragedy, but to call it the greatest tragedy just because it happened to us and not someone else for once, is selfish and ignorant.
On September 11, 2001, there were 2982 deaths due to terrorist attacks - the largest death toll to ever befall our country due to a single incident, which is something completely true.

One of the widely agreed-upon definitions of terrorism is premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets, which also includes another act: genocide. State sponsored terrorism. So, what other tragedies now constitute terrorism.

The first and most obvious is the Jewish Holocaust, which lasted four years. The lowest estimated death toll is about 4.2 million. That means there was an average of at least about 2,900 deaths per day for four years.
In the Rwandan genocide of 1994, there is an estimated death toll of about 800,000 over the course of 100 days. That's an average of about 8,000 deaths per day for over three months.

And finally, something I've read a lot about and talk alot about, though it is a daily average which doesn't seem like much in comparison to the numbers above: during the Philippines' fight for independence from the United States, which lasted about 13 years in reality, though the official war only lasted for three, there was a total of about 1,520,000 Filipinos killed by Americans, an average of about 300 deaths per day. American General Jacob H. Smith ordered his men to "kill everyone over the age of ten" and turn the island into a "howling wilderness".

This is not meant to belittle what people must feel about the events of 9/11, but the date should be one to also recognize that in order to live in a safer more peaceful world means not turning a blind eye to what happens in the rest of the world.