Why 9/11 Made Me Sadder This Year

Obviously, especially the first couple of years after it happened, I get sad every year.  A blog post Katrina wrote today, in the novel where the man is saddened by his lack of compassion for what happened, is something relatable to me.

I remember the day it happened.  It felt like the news we were watching and hearing was the point of climax in a movie.  It was incredibly surreal.  One of the few times in my life I watched tv news for an entire day.  In the last few days, I've been avoiding television shows, news headlines, just about anything with the words "Ground Zero" or "9/11" in it.  I don't know if it's the media that makes me apathetic, or just the fact that is the most traumatic thing that happened in this country since I've been alive.  It's not something I can, or want to even try fully realizing in my mind.  It's completely unbelievable sometimes, and I don't want the fear and grief I felt nine years ago to come back into my mind. That united spirit everyone had following the event was such a beautiful moment.  The support and love for one another that was ignited out of this shared tragedy was inspiring, however ...

Anyone who follows the news, or just glanced at a newspaper in the last few weeks has heard about the tension the Islamic center being built a few blocks away from Ground Zero is causing.  I went from trying to ignore the ignorance of (ignore, ignorance ... get it?) right-wing conservatives, to mild irritation, to outrage, to sadness.

When I came into work this evening, there was a group of Muslim women in the woman's clothing section, and I saw a woman walk by, and give them some sort of evil look.  I actually found myself scared that something was going to happen.  This sort of anti-Muslim sentiment that's sprung up recently is horrifying.  I remember how wrong I thought it was when I first heard after the 9/11 attacks that they were profiling people who looked like they might be from the Middle East out of lines at the airport to check them for bombs. 

What I think makes me angry, the angriest, is that people hear this crap on the "news" and believe that all Muslim people are terrorists.  What people don't understand is that a very small group of Muslims are Al Qaeda.  Most of them are normal like we are.  They just want to work, take care of the children, and be good citizens.  Most of them do not hate America.

Among American citizens who were affected by 9/11, were many Muslim Americans.  Americans who also lost family members in the attacks.

I just read an article in the New York Times about how political the 9/11 memorial was this year.  How some arguments even broke out.  Some of them were ridiculous statements, mostly about how all Muslims are terrorists.  Maybe because 9/11 was so traumatic and outside many of our grasps, people feel the need to have someone who's easier to blame, such as Muslims in their neighborhood, than Al Qaeda in the middle east.  I remember all the conspiracy theorists that came out after it happened.  We don't understand why it happened, and it was so traumatic that to some there has to be some cover-up, some way to make it easier on our subconcious that these people died.  Sometimes all the pieces just don't fit together.

Another thing I think these protestors have a problem realizing is that it's not even a mosque that's being built, is a community center with a place of worship inside.  It's also not being built on Ground Zero, it's several blocks away.  We should focus our passion on things that make some fucking sense, instead of insulting grieving family members on the anniversary of one of the most traumatic events in American history by protesting something that isn't half what people think it is.  I bet if I just went up there with a megaphone and announced to the protestors the first two sentences in this paragraph, they would just leave.

This sheep-like mentality, and it seems almost intentional ignorance, is running rampant in our country.  I feel as though I'm going crazy because it's as if the entire thing would be over if someone would just tell these people what's really going on.  The entire thing could be solved within a matter of minutes.  Obama said in that New York Times article that Muslim and Al Qaeda are not synonymous.  He said we need to come together again, and end this ostracizing of a different religion.  But the same people who watch Fox News, and believe Obama is a Muslim (which we know is synonymous with terrorist) are not going to listen to him because he just wants to build this "mosque" to train his future Al Qaeda members.  

Why are right-wing Conservatives treating people who don't know any better like this?  Why isn't anyone really standing up and calling for an end to this mindless insanity?  I thought that the bipartisan turn of the media a few years ago was bad, but now I'm just generally shocked at what's getting played on something called the "news" that used to stand for something.