Four days from now, the five-year anniversary of 9/11 will remind us of the international state of insecurity. An annual candle- lighting ceremony on campus will remind us of those who were killed, and President George W. Bush will discuss the consequences of the terrorist attacks. The president will speak to the American people, but he will not tell us how to rebuild what his fight against terror has destroyed. This will become the responsibility of our generation, and we must act as global citizens to fix the damage that has shaped our world.

Most of us were in high school when the planes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and our president responded by invading Iraq. Now we are in college, our country has been at war for the better part of our young adult lives and we cannot look at 9/11 without seeing it through the lens of Iraq. The question today is not whether the U.S. justly invaded Iraq. The question is how our generation, shaped by the affects of war, can rebuild the Iraqi government and economy to function efficiently, aid those emotionally and physically wounded in combat and fix our international relationships.

We are not “Generation Screwed,” as the SGA president joked at Convocation. We are the leaders of tomorrow, and we must use our respective areas of study to fulfill the needs of the world we will face after college.

As students, we are future politicians who must prepare to recreate a government for Iraqi civilians. We are future sociologists and teachers who will be needed to help Iraqis rebuild their culture. We are rising business leaders who will be needed to mend the international economy. We are psychologists and medics who will be needed to repair individual lives. And we are members of the media, historians and linguists who will be required to record and communicate our progress and to understand our international neighbors.

In light of the anniversary of 9/11, we will be reminded of the horrific situation in Iraq. It is one for which we must master our individual disciplines in order to effectively take on the role of international citizens and mend the dismal state of current affairs.