Eight Years On

Today is the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I don't think there are any major events scheduled to mark the date, and I'm fine with that. Stress the 'big' anniversaries, of course, but in years like this have faith in your fellow Americans; know that they'll bow their heads at some point in the day and remember the lost.

Man, that was a awful day. Words will never be able to describe it. Still, as recent as it feels in my head, I have to stop and remember that each and every one of my kids had yet to be born when the towers fell, yet my oldest is now in third grade. That seems crazy.

Time runs away from all our memories, the good and the bad.

* * * *

I'm not planning in any way to politicize the anniversary, and I wish others would do the same. But while I'm not angered by the following headline on MSNBC.com, I am left shaking my head: U.S. Muslims Fear Backlash for 9/11

If the need exists to run with a 9/11 headline - and does it? - there are better avenues to explore. Why run an article in which the interview subjects admit nothing much has happened to them because of 9/11, then or in the eight years since? How is that news? And why run such an empty piece under a fear-mongering headline?

Why, even on 9/11, is there such an obsessive need for some news agencies to find fault with the American people, and our character - to the point where they'll even massage a story to create an angle?

When the towers fell Lisa and I were living in a predominantly Muslim apartment building. It was the two of us, a middle aged white guy across the hall, and a building of Pakistini, Saudi, and Palestinian families. We exchanged cards on the holidays, we asked about each others families, and we shared meals (yes, even goat).

I wrote the following on the fifth anniversary of the attack:

For days [after 9/11] my neighbors would not step foot outside their doors, fearful of retaliation. In the end we knocked and offered to buy them groceries. My wife embraced one of the women and told them not to be afraid, that we didn’t hold them responsible.

It wasn't long at all before things were back to normal. No one threatened them, no one harmed them, no one treated them any differently, nor did they feel compelled to change their own way of life.

I'm PROUD of the way my country treated our Muslim population in the wake of the attacks, as we all should be. Somewhere, at sometime, was someone cursed at or even threatened? I'm sure. We are a nation of 300 million people, and not all of them angels. But we, AS A SOCIETY, reacted with compassion and understanding.

Not for one moment do I believe there's another country that would have acted as well when embraced by the dark emotions that day inspired.

Anyway, I just needed to get that off my chest.

To the victims of that day: Rest in Peace.