The American Heritage Dictionary defines terrorism as "the unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons."

By this definition, our generation is one of terror. This generation is surrounded by terrorism and we have witnessed attacks that have heightened our awareness of the evils of the world around us.

Starting with the shooting at Columbine High School and ending with the shooting at Virginia Tech, this generation has faced numerous terrorist attacks in ways that have shaken our nation.

On April 20, 1999, 12 students and one teacher died at the hands of two Columbine High School students. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shocked the nation when they went on a shooting rampage that killed 13 and wounded at least 22 others. Reports flooded the country with information on the shooters, their threats against more than 67 students and the duffel bag bombs they had planted throughout the school. Following the carnage, schools around the nation joined the high school in mourning the victims, and candlelight vigils were held in different cities to honor the dead and grieving.

While Columbine was indeed an atrocious incident, life continued after the shootings, and America moved on. Then we, once again, suffered a hit from terrorists.

September 11, 2001 marks the date on which four airliners were hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists. In the hijacking, the World Trade Center was destroyed as was part of the Pentagon. Finally, the fourth plane went down in Pennsylvania after passengers tried in vain to regain control of the airplane. Thousands of people died in the attacks, and the nation began the long process of trying to find survivors amidst the wreckage and discover the identities of the attackers. When Osama bin Laden was identified as the instigator of the attacks, America became enraged, and war followed. Once again, terrorism had struck with swift blows to the heart of the country.

With so many lives affected by terrorism, it's no wonder we struggle with fear.Americans were less forgiving about the destruction of the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and the war against terror became the focal point of government resources. Before the war really got off the ground, however, we suffered the 2001 anthrax attacks that left five people dead and gave no leads to the terrorists behind them. Investigators found several letters mailed to victims with traces of anthrax and threats against the United States and Israel in the name of Islam. Despite exhaustive searches, no leads turned up the sources of the attacks.

Following the anthrax scare, we enjoyed a relative amount of peace while American troops went off to war. News stations reported daily on the amounts of soldiers killed in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, but overall, the United States was a relatively peaceful place.

Then in 2005, two Knoxville girls were caught up in subway bombings in London. Emily and Katie Benton, college-aged sisters, were sitting near one of the subway bombs when it exploded. Both girls suffered injuries and were admitted to a hospital in London where they were treated and eventually recovered. The attacks killed 52 people and wounded over 700, and police released the news that the bombings were the work of al-Qaeda.

These acts of terrorism have had major impacts on the lives of Americans and on the lives of people around the world. Despite the work of U.S. soldiers, the truth remains that terrorists live and kill even today. It has become a fact of life for our generation and we have seen it happen again in the attack at Virginia Tech.

With so many lives affected by terrorism, it's no wonder we struggle with fear. We live in a world where we don't know when the next attack will come, and the biggest problem is that we still don't know who the enemy is.

Past generations have suffered wrongs from certain defined enemies and have managed to live out their lives in relative peace despite attacks on their freedom. Ours is a different generation; we go to school, shop for clothes and drive the interstates not knowing when that quiet boy in our discussion class is going to crack or when that woman who's been depressed will decide to take her problems on the wrong side of the interstate to barrel down on us.

We don't know who the enemy is, but if we let fear consume our lives, then the enemy has won. In order to keep fear from ruling our lives, we have to come together for one another; we have to give our strength and love to those suffering and be sure to help one another when we are in pain. If we can come together, I'm sure we can turn this Generation Terror into something like a Generation Hope, but it all depends on our willingness to help one another and to give of ourselves.