On the morning of September 11th I woke up as usual, my television was programmed to turn on at 7 and therefore it was no coincidence that they were broadcasting the news, yet something was different. There was no banter between Katie Couric and Matt Lauer and they weren't talking about the usual platitudes, instead there was "live" coverage of the "big" events taking place in downtown Manhattan. Even though I still felt groggy, I tried to focus on the TV, I saw smoke rising from the World Trade Center towers, note plural, I was sure that even though I couldn't see the second tower must be hidden behind the plumes of smoke. But then Katie Couric told me about the collapse of the missing tower, which woke me up: the news was big. I was glued to the television, every channel, every radio station, speaking in every language of the events unfolding in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. All the news anchors of the ³top² network were at work, which shows the gravity of the situation. It's always a sign that the news is important when you have Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Peter Jennings in their respective seats. However, no matter what channel your television was tuned to, the images were the same, planes crashing into buildings, mass chaos and utter disbelief. Although it sounds cliché, the scenes that played out on our television screens didn't feel real, they felt too "Hollywood", except there were no superhuman heroes to save the day. Then there were the analyzes and commentary, the hosts pontificating about how "the unthinkable had happened" - how "terrorism" invaded America and how that marked the start of the war. The biggest concern of course was what would happen in… middle of paper… The irony is lost that in post-affirmative states like California, low-income and traditionally disadvantaged students, while limited in the pursuit of higher education, they are now heavily courted to join the military. In place of this fact, media literacy is crucial. Young recruits, like the general public, must understand that war is not sanitary we are aware have been filtered and selected to limit the real carnage of war However, this war is different, thanks to technology we can see events unfold before our eyes, the question is whether we have the skills to deconstruct what others want. that we see and understand what we need to know? References: http://www.msnbc.com/modules/wtc/refdesk/multimedia.asp?0wp=n300&cp1=1 http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/gallery/time. time lapse.html