One minute of silence

A year ago in the afternoon(6 houre timedifference with NY)I saw the events wich we are sadly all too familiar with unfold on live TV right before my eyes.
Smoke billowing from one of the towers and a reporter trying to make sense of it all, mere minutes later a second plane hitting the other tower with pinpoint precision immediatly ending all speculation as to what was happening, later cemented in by a third plane that had hit the capitol.
This was an attack, something I had feared would happen for years yet something I had hoped would never happen.
Sadly it was happening.

The following houres and days for me personaly were horrible and at moments it was verry difficult to go on.
Feelings of fear, anger and saddnes filled my hart.
The next three days I spend mostly on the phone in often failed attempts to contact friends of mine who lived or worked in or around Manhattan and in talking with my manny American friends from around the country.
Two sleeples nights, a 250$ phonebill, two gallon´s of coffee and a splitting headache later I finnaly received email from the last person for who´s life I feared.
Once that happened I finnaly managed a good nights rest but after waking up again reality hit me and I was confronted both online and ofline with a barrage of hatred and misinformation.

These went from claims I was a terrorist supporter to even death threats aimed towards me in moments of anger.
I didnt mind too much, these persons just like me were personnaly suffering from the events and theyre way of dealing with it at that moment was to vent and look for scapegoats, I dealt with the events the only way I have known how.
Defending my vieuws and trying to make others see that the calls for revenge and blaming me or others like me was in fact the same sort of reasoning those puppets manipulated by a crminal mastermind used to justify theyre actions, actions wich are unjustifiable no matter wich way you look at it.
Blaming an entire race or religion becouse of the actions of a few is what got us in this mess in the first place, its what got this world in the state its in, with that in mind how can ANNYONE claim it to be a solution?

I mean its not like we dont have manny recent examples to draw upon for proof that blind vengeance is not the way to go and in fact was the exact reasoning Osama and his cronies used to justify theyre actions.
From the treatment of Germany by the other West European countries after WW1 wich created the climate and breedingground within Germany where fascism could thrive thus leading to the rise of Hitler, to the massacres called for by a Belgian Catholic priest between Hutu´s and Tutsi´s in Africa that left a million people death a few years ago and manny milions more inbetween those in various conflicts around the world the examples of what NOT to do are there and plain to see for everyone who simply takes the effort to see em.

Dehumanisation and putting the blame on those you know and dehumanise is a verry dangerous tactic and once it is used by those claiming to do good the lines get blurred and whatever good intentions one might have had are lost.
After all its much easier to justify so called colateral dammage or sometimes even outright execution of people iff you see them as inhuman assholes instead of people who might feel the same feelings you do and share youre dreams, ideals and fears.
Its easier saying hey we bombard and have sanctions against Iraq becouse Iraq is evil and wants to destroy us then it is to say Iraq has a military dictator who sadly we( Europe and the US ) put in his seat after wich he brought death and destruction to his own people, we have brought that evil upon the innocent Iraqi people who used to enjoy a great quality of life so we should do the honorouble thing and correct this grave historical mistake we have commited against the innocent people of Iraq.
Nope its much easier keeping sanctions in place and calling the aproximatly 1.2 million deaths it caused colateral damage.

The things I just brushed upon sadly happen al around the world, from the Arab worlds dehumanisation of Israel and America to the dehumanisation of the Arab world by Israel and America.
The dehumanisation is greatest in times of crisis and sadly thats exactly why its so dangerous.
An American girl shortly after the attack on the twin towers asked me why people hated the US, I gave her a link to the following two stories: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/palestine/news2001/independent091201.html ( by Robert Fisk The Independent a London based newspaper, The awesome cruelty of doomed people 9/12 2k1)
and http://www.globalexchange.org/september11/bostonglobe091601.html ( where an Egyptian waiter asks Chris Toensing from The Boston Globe why Americans hate them )
The links are not the original links that I send her, when I did a search forthese two articles this website had em both while the original links were hidden behind a payservice in order to see them, they are the original content tough.
Another American girl told me she hated being an American and she would like nothing more then to leave the US and live her life in Canada, Europe or Japan.
I told her that she too was making the same mistake by hating the country she was born in, hating an entire nation, race, religion or whatever is wrong period.

We are humans and as such sadly we seem to be unable to learn from the mistakes of oure forefathers and we seem to be destined to make the same mistakes over and over again.
We have to tough, we have to so we as humans as people of this planet can survive.
We have to look within ourselves as much as we look to others and make sure the breeding grounds of hatred get eliminated not only to ensure oure own survival but the survival of oure neighbours as well and oure neighbours neighbours and theyre neighbours and so on.
Like I said history is rife with examples, Hitlers rise to power becouse the UKs and France´s insistence on humiliating the German people after WW1 thus providing Hitler the opportunity to blame the jews and give hope to the easily impressed by saying they were part of a superior race.
The insane show of might between Russia and the US that went on for decades and claimed manny other countries as victims cought in the crossfire and breeded hatred between the two countries and manny others for decades.
The creation of Israel and the current conflict with the Palestines and within the Arab world and the occupied teritories.
The war between Iraq and Iran in the 80s.
The tensions between India and Pakistan.
Sadly I could go on and on and on.

Sigh ill end it here, this became way longer and politicised then I had intended it to be, it started out with me trying to tell you people what 9/11 had meant and means to me and look what I ended up saying.
My apologies for that.

So what will I do to honour this grim anniversary then?
Ill keep a minute of silence and pray for the souls of the innocent victims that fell that day in a city and country that are verry dear to me, for them and for all innocent victims of terror, be it by way of terrorism, sanctions, war, hunger etcetera worldwide.

PS I visited Ground Zero late May.
It had a greater effect on me then I tought it would, I couldnt control my emotions and while praying for those who had lost theyre lives my tears flowed freely.
Im happy it did, im happy that after 31 years on this planet I still have the ability to have these feelings towards others and that despite the sorry state this world is in that it has not managed to make me lose the ability to feel for this world and its inhabitants regardles of who or what they might be perceived as by others.

Regards Ali

 

My heart and soul goes out to the people of new york and their lost ones. Let us give thanxs to the firefighter and police men who helped get people too saftey on that tragic day, and also to the soldiers that where sent to Afganistan too fight for our freedom that most of us take for granted. I just wish that this world of ours would just see that all of us are human, and that everyone deserves freedom, it should be our god given right not to live in fear, but in peace and too respect one and other. This day I will never forget, it showed me that life is too short and too take time to really think about my life, and with what I've done in my life too make a good impact on others. LET FREEDOM RING and Budda bless you all!!!! /versus/images/icons/laugh.gif

 

I really dislike a lot of things america has done, and a lot of aspects of its effect on the world. I don't know anybody in New York, I really thought I wouldn't care, and initially i didn't. I'm also often cold-hearted, and yet.. despite these things, I was at work today and I was watching tv, listening to them read the names of the victims, and seeing the people who were left behind. I saw a little girl crying. My eyes got watery, I had to look away to not cry. It really affected me, and I had thought it wouldn't. I didn't see a faceless government, I saw people suffering. To any who have felt the effects of the attack and to those who lost loved ones, my heart goes out to you. Even a cold-hearted bastard like me feels your pain.