I just wanted to say that I am giving my condolences to those who lost family members during the sept. 11th attacks on the world trade center and pentagon building.
I wanted to share a memory that I had about that very day:
I was a senior in High School.
I was walking out of class to lunch. On my way, this obnoxious kid came up to me and said "Hey! Your Palestinian cousins are destroying our country!" I had no clue what the hell he was talking about and
I was too sleepy to punch him in the face (It was the second week of classes and after three months of falling asleep at dawn, we now had to be in class at dawn) ... Then I walked into the cafeteria and saw the TV screens on and couldnt believe what I saw. I saw a plane fly into one of the Trade Center Towers. I was so distraught, I walked out and I saw this girl outside of the auditorium crying. I went to the library to get away from the emotions around me (I know its selfish but thats how I dealt with things) I then saw footage on the library Tvs of the Pentagon having been destroyed. After that I realized why that girl was crying, her dad worked at the Pentagon. I Freaked out, my dads job requires him to work with reporters from time to time so I thought "what if he was taking reporters to the Pentagon today?!?!?" I called him, scared as hell. Thank God he was in his office and he said he was on his way out go home and that I should leave too. He called me out of school and I got into my little P.O.S. (figure that out for yourself). When I got out of campus and on the main road, what would have been a 10 to 15 minute drive home turned into a 2 hour traffic jam. Everyone in the entire county was on the road going home, scared, worried, and confused.
I get home and my mom is worried, my older sister and brother came home and we all watch the news. MY younger sister was around 4 at the time and I wanted to protect her from seeing these images. Also, being a teenager I could only deal the images for short periods of time. When I was ready to make my momentary escape, I changed the channel to MTV. When I did, I saw the same footage I was just watching on the news, and thats when I realized this was something I could not avoid. What hit me harder that day was looking back on what that annoying kid said to me in the hall. I realized it was time to educate the people around me about who I am, where I came from and what my religion and culture truly represent, and that sure as hell WASN'T terrorism or violence.
Thats my memory.
Lets pray for those who have lost loved ones today,
Allah Yar hum hoom. (meaning: May God rest their souls.)
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