The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York changed the world dramatically. While experts on international relations find that almost every day after the attacks is marked by some important international event, artists have created a large quantity of artworks related to the incident, releasing much compassion from a global audience.

However, if September 11 is still regarded as a terrorist problem five years after the attacks, it indicates a failure of the international community. In the years following the attacks, the greatest change actually took place in people's minds and their views on political direction. Nowadays, to threaten the majority by sacrificing a small number of people's lives has become a viable option and when this option overthrew the traditional theory on war and peace, the whole world became covered in a veil of uncertainty.

While causing destruction, terrorism is also throwing the world into crisis. Antiterror wars rise one after the other around the world, and the operating room for such terrorist groups as Al Qaeda is being squeezed tight daily. However, instead of fading away, terror is increasing. As a result, the fact that the more heavily terrorism is hammered, the more rampant it becomes, consequently attracted more attention from governments. Just before the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy was unanimously passed at the United Nations General Assembly. The measure aimed to fight against terrorism worldwide. This is the first consensus on global antiterror strategy agreed on by all the 192 UN member states.

September 11 should not be linked to conspiracy theories. For this, we should at least have a basic belief in human reason. Nevertheless, the whole world, not the United States alone, is a captive of terrorism. Today, the September 11 attacks are engraved in people's memory and will be continuously commemorated. It's possible that every terrorist attack in the future may be referred to as the September 11 of this or that country. In doing so, people are consolidating the memory of terrorist attacks and the world as a whole is held hostage to that tragic event.

In the current situation, it seems that the differences in ideology, culture, economic development level and people's interests are becoming less important, as people all over the world share the common threat of terrorism.

September 11 is not only a problem of counter-terrorism but it also indicates that civilization diversity, ethnic differences and even the disparity between the rich and the poor are fading. People living in different countries and having different beliefs should consider problems from different perspectives. By saying so, I don't mean we Chinese should not commemorate the 3,000 innocent Americans who lost their lives in the September 11 attacks, but isn't it a better way to commemorate the dead by shaking off the shadow of September 11? Otherwise, we are not even sure whether we are appreciating September 11 or have been terrified by the attacks.

The World Trade Center towers have fallen down, but the United States and all mankind stand firm. On the fifth anniversary of the attack, we do have a lot of things to ponder.