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My September 11th story starts out with sadness, as I feel all memories of this day should. Sadness that this is still the world that we all live in. A world where we have to look back and see the wreckage of what mankind still does to their fellow men and women. This is not a bias between nations, religions, or nationalities, this is a bias towards what we do to each other on almost every level of our existence.
No person can go through life without feeling betrade or taken advantage of in some way or another. This isn’t because they did something wrong to deserve it, or they are being careless with themselves. Its because in every aspect of our society we are taught to take from the other guy to provide for ourselves. So as a natural defence, we also learn to concern ourselves with the guy that might be taking from us. Subconscious paranoia I suppose. Its not because we all want it that way, but in order to provide for us and our families we must participate in that ideology.
In America we are experiencing the same misfortune on every level right now. We can’t figure out why there is hatred and violence building up in our neighborhoods, why the two parties in D.C. cant seem to get anything done, and why we are in conflict with two other nations? We are in the middle of a crumbling economy that is destroying our middle and lower class while the rich get by just sitting on the money they have stored in the bank.
Well I suggest an alternative to the way we have been living. We have been the melting pot for many years now, but I think salad bowl is more accurate. In a melting pot everything eventually blends together. In a salad, each element stays unique, easily identifiable, and this frame of mind holds us back. We spend so much time defining ourself as different, that we forget to see how much we are all the same. By joining to a common goal with all people no matter how different, we identify how much working together despite our differences truly can help us aspire to a world were we don’t need to remember 9/11 to feel American. A world where we can expose ourselves for who we are, rather than the mask of whats expected; with the trust of knowing that underneath that which makes us unique, we are American. This is what gives us strength. This is what changes nations.
Patriots standing up to stop plots of burning religious books even though its different than yours. People standing up for the stranger next to them, with trust that person would do the same. We are not on a team America, and there will be harder times ahead. In fact the longer we stand idly by, divided by our differences, the more challenging our times will be. Its a test of choice, how bad do things need to get before we will change, adapt, evolve; into a country where there is no violence or fear of betrayal by our fellow Americans.
Related Articles
- Lea Lane: A Gesture from Florence, Italy Following 9/11/2001 (huffingtonpost.com)
- Michael Gould-Wartofsky: A New York Teen Speaks Out, September 2001 (huffingtonpost.com)
- A bond forged from tragedy (waronterrornews.typepad.com)
- Fears rise over growing anti-Muslim feeling in U.S. (reuters.com)
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