4 years ago today
Today marks the fourth year annivesary of September 11th 2001. The world has changed so much since then, perhaps one of the good events which came from that day was this program. The Salaam program. Addressing the relationships between Arab and US people's so that something like this never happens again. I know this is an idealism ... but it is a powerful one.
How do you feel on this day ? What does it make you think ? As an Arab ? As an American ? As anyone ? I am an Australian and my life has been changed from these events. I now live in the US andmanage this program. I would never have thought about that when I first heard of the September 11 attacks.
We talked at the Salaam meeting in Colorado about how this day four years ago effected your life, the life of the people in your communities. Any thoughts on that today ?
3 Comments:
i remember september 11, 2001 vividly. i was a freshman, first week of classes, and already we were being dismissed because "we needed to go home, turn on cnn and witness history. sitting in class today is the worst thing you could do"... god, i loved that prof! i was sitting on my puke green couch, door propped open to inform all those who didn't know as they passed by, tears running down my face. i had stood in the WTC just months prior to these events while on a school trip. and now knew that that experience could not happen for me again. that my parents and siblings would never feel the wonder of stepping out the main doors of the WTC, looking up, practially doing a backbend to even attempt to "see the top".
i remember having hatred ... towards the humans that could justify this kind of heinous act. feeling complete sorrow for those that had died, the families that they left behind, for those who saw and lived through this. i was disgusted with the pictures of people rejoicing in other countries. and i was also completely disgusted that the arab students that call st. cloud state home had to almost completely disappear, some returning to their home country to escape the backlash because, after all, "all arab people want to blow us up"....
i remember this one arab man in particular (i still see him around campus)who wore traditional clothes and had the long beard. i remember looking into his eyes and seeing the pain that he was going through. to be honest, being at st. cloud state on that day and the days immediately following sept. 11 had to be some of the scariest days of any arab person's life. st. cloud is "one of the most racist campuses in the united states". this is a fact that i am not proud of or promoting. but it is a fact. one that i'm trying my best to overcome.
my tears have welled up with tears while writing this. its such a mix of emotions that i hope to never experience in my life ever again. i will always, always preach that one person or group of people, should NEVER be accepted as the true, typical person. the crazies always are the ones that get on the news. the normal ones, the good ones, the majority are always the ones in the background looking at the crazies, well, like they're crazy.
this is why i am so happy to have been impacted by salaam, by everyone that has shattered the stereotypes. thank you for coming into my life and being true and honest.
i've said it before and i'm going to say it again..
i heart aiesec.
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