THE KNOCK THAT CHANGED THE MOOD

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!!! We heard outside the doors of my political science class. A student must be late and can't get in. The teaching assistant walked up to the door, opened it and to everyone's surprise masked gunman came in the door with AKs and RPGs. "GET ON THE FLOOR," they yelled at the top of their lungs. Half of the people in the room quickly ducked to the floor and the other half looked around confused. One the "terrorists" ran to the front and pointed her gun at Professor Dekmejian and one of her accomplices did the same to a visiting professor. "I WANT A MILLION DOLLARS, A VIDEO CAMERA AND A PLANE," she demanded. The professor told he would give her anything she wanted but she wasn't satisfied. The others continued to yell at students to get on the floor. The faces of those students walking in late were of complete confusion.
"I WANT A MAGILLIAN DOLLARS," she yelled. 
At this point no one really knew what was going on except that this had to be a horrible joke the professor was pulling on us. Yet very little people got off the floor. Well, except for those few who wanted to make sure and capture this moment with their phones.
Finally the professor got up and called the supposed terrorist to the front of the room. SHOCKING TO EVERYONE STILL ON THE FLOOR, THEY COMPLIED.
Slowly the mood in the room began to relax and all those nervous laughs began to fade. The danger was over. It was all a joke. But who would do such a thing. It was our fellow classmates talked into it by the professors.

What was the point of this we all asked?

Simple to show us that terrorism is still alive and probable. "I am not here to scare you," the professor and former USC graduate student said. "But terrorist are planning attacks as we speak."
His major point is that we need to be prepared because attacks can happen at any time and the terrorists can be anyone, including our classmates. We are not to be paranoid but aware of the situation, so that we are not caught off guard.

Ignorance is our biggest weakness. We must inform ourselves of the events occurring all around the world and learn about the reasons why organizations like Al-Qaida hate us. The better prepared we are, the better chance we have of combating terrorist plots and be ready to respond when terrorist do really come knocking on our door.