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Essay Contest

I just wrote an essay for an essay contest, and I really want to win this. Not only will it look good, but the prizes are as follows:
1st: $200
2nd: $100
3rd: $50
I want this essay to be supurb. The competition is open to 9th and 10th graders. It is sponsored by Pittsburgh North People for Peace & Justice. Keep that in mind. The prompt is:
What does the word "terrorism" mean to you?
How does the threat of terrorism affect your life and life in general in the US today?
What can be done to diminish the threat of terrorism?

My essay is below, though I have one question about it for you all to please answer. Do my second and third paragraphs contradict each other too much? Otherwise, any suggestions and critisisms are welcome. Thanks in advance.
my paper said:
Terrorism - n. - 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 societies. This is dictionary.com’s definition for terrorism. It isn’t quite the same as my definition. If I wrote it, it wouldn’t be able to be defined in a dictionary. Any time a person or organization causes fear in a society using violence, it is terrorism. It can be anything from threatening to bring a knife to school to shouting fire in a crowded cinema. If it causes hysteria among a group of people, it is terrorism. No way around it.
Terrorism does not affect me. That is allowing the terrorists to cause fear and terror. That is the goal of terrorists, to cause terror. Because of this, I refuse to be afraid. I mourn for those lost in terror attacks, but I would never let them affect where I go or what I do. If it affects one person, it has affected too many people, and it has affected many more than one person. The terrorists win if they change someone’s habits. The terrorists already have won. They changed our security requirements at airports. Now we must go to airports two hours early to catch a plane, because of security. Terrorism is a horrible thing, but letting terrorism win is even worse.
There is nothing to be done about terrorism. The only counter to terrorism would be genocide of the terrorists. And genocide would only be terrorism reversed at the terrorists. Many terrorists believe that their suicidal and warlike acts will get them eternal joy and life in heaven. If this is what one believes, there is no way to stop anyone from attempting to obtain this. Terrorist organizations would be frustrated at being ignored, but it would not halt attacks, but merely reduce the number of them. If there is a solution, it is to get more education to the western world about Third World cultures. If we were to better know how they feel and what they believe, it would increase tolerance towards them. If we become more tolerant, they’d become less hostile. There would always be an extremist ready to detonate a bomb on a bus, but there’d be fewer of them. The people of terrorist nations would also need education on our culture, as many third world people believe things about us that aren’t true, but it all must start somewhere, and it should start here, in the home of the free, and the land of the brave.
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