THe First War

When I was little, I thought war was just a story, a fairytale, something that would never happen in my lifetime. I was very wrong. I've always had this...I dunno, gift where I could sense when something was really wrong. The day of September 11th, I was in my third-grade class and I got this really bad feeling. It only lasted a few minutes, and when it was over I almost forgot it. A friend of mine, my friend Thomas, was in the next class over. His teacher would sometimes let them watch the news at noon or whatever. In the middle of the day, his class began to get really loud. We couldn't figure out why. Our teacher went over to the next class to see what was up and came back looking worried. Teachers began coming in and whispering- us students had no clue what was going on. After school, Thomas was really excited. He came up to me and said "Did you hear!? A plane crashed into the Twin Towers! We watched it!" I didn't know what the Twin Towers were, but alll of the sudden that bad feeling came back and I knew it was bad. I got into the car to find my mom looking worried but releived that we were okay. Then we got home and learned how many people had died. That bad feeling was coming back again...
Now I'm a pacifist. It kinda started back then, on Sep.11th, but it really started when my Uncle, Andrew Himes, a sort of creator for all this, showed us the movie Voices in Wartime at Christmas. Then I began to realize: This was bad. This was terrible. This whole bloody war is going on, all those soldiers can't go home for christmas to be with their family, and because of what? Because a bunch of warmongers decided to take up their grudge with the US. That's what started it all: my poems, my opinions. My friend Kevin is a pacifist, too. He takes it even more seriously than I do. Our High School had a wacky tacky day for spirit week, and he wore a camoflauge outfit, saying that he was wacky tacky because he was a pacifist.
Our High school- let's just say it's not the best place to go. Last year half my History class ended up either in jail or somehow of unknown location. At school they call me the Grudge Girl because my hair is long and hangs in my face sometimes. School is where my friends are- and all of us are pacifists to one point or another. This is my first war. The war of teens is the my war. Beating those who try to beat me, staying on the good side long enough to make it through the day.
THIS is my war. THIS is who I am. THIS is how I will stay.