9/11 .... Ten Years Later.

It's 8 a.m. Dhofari Gucci is sipping her morning cup of coffee and looking out at the end of the monsoon drizzle in Salalah. I live thousands of miles away from the United States, and it should be a normal morning for someone like me, but it's not. Ten years ago, a series of coordinated suicide attacks killed 2977 human beings and led to the collapse of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Will the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed 230,000 people remain stuck in my memory forever? What about the Japan earthquakes that killed 16,000 people and wiped out entire villages and towns? Yes and no. I believe it's easier to 'accept' natural disasters and mourn the death of victims because natural disasters are exactly that. There is more closure because it ws an act of God. As for incidents like the Holocaust or 9/11 or the 2011 Norway murderer that killed mostly teenagers, I find them hard to even begin to accept or forget because they were acts of hate. Humans killing humans is something I will never understand.

9/11 was definitely a tragedy and the whole world watched it happen live on TV. I was sitting in the living room with my family watching in horror as the second plane appeared and the twin towers collapsed. It is something I will never ever forget. The aftermath ... the shock, the sadness, the anger, the 'very few' sick terrorists who chose to celebrate (and who do not represent the rest of us peaceful Muslims),.... it went on for months. However, it happened ten years ago, and it's over.
Do we know all the facts about what really happened? I don't know. Did 9/11 deserve all the media coverage it got? No, I don't think so. Why did the famine in Somalia that has killed TENS OF THOUSANDS of people this year disappear from headlines, hmm? Or add up the number of peaceful Israelis and Palestinians who've lost their lives over the years... or the number of innocent civilians murdered in Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Pakistan, etc..... and just compare.

Like many people out there, I do not agree with the US policies and I have no respect for government decisions, especially those that involve 'going to war' with this nation or that nation to 'fight' terrorism (WTF), but I spent a good chunk of my life in the US and I'm asking you not to generalize. Most Americans are wonderful, sweet and friendly people who probably hate their government more than we do. The 10th anniversary of 9/11 is going to bring back a lot of bad feelings and may even open up a can of unwanted worms.

As a Muslim, 9/11 has affected me of course, and has mostly affected Muslims in the US. When I was abroad, I got the usual hate comments when walking down the street, ... in airports I was treated like an invalid, with securty guards even taking the small pin that keeps my hijab in place (yeah, like I could totally do damage with a scarf pin, right?). Instead of getting pissed off and creating a fuss, I've learned to wear scarves that stay in place without a pin when I travel. I don't know where I'm going with this post. My brain is a mess, but one thought is crystal clear: if we all followed the golden rule and treated others as we ourselves want to be treated, the world would be a better place.

“If each man or woman could understand that every other human life is as full of sorrows, or joys, or base temptations, of heartaches and of remorse as his own . . . how much kinder, how much gentler he would be.” .... Amen.