Nine years. Nine years ago the face of the world changed. We were all slapped in the face with reality. We’re still being hit blow after blow. When the towers fell everyone had that Macaulay Culkin face from Home Alone. I wish that had been the worst of it, but it wasn’t. What followed proved to all of us stupid kids who believed that the world by the twenty first century was moving toward peace, and our brains had evolved enough to overlook the differences in colour, language, religion, and community. We haven’t evolved that much. Growing up in the 90s post Cold War, I guess I always knew that we weren’t at peace yet. People were still fighting in remote corners of the world. What I didn’t realize was that 54 years after the end of the Second World War the world would be at war again. We would be discussing Social Darwinism again, I thought we had disproved that. I didn’t realize that once again North American governments would start hiding information from their citizens. I didn’t anticipate the retaliation on Iraq, or Afghanistan. I didn’t realize that people would believe in a War against Terror. It scared me. I would hide in my room and cry when I watched the news. God I hate CNN how they promote hate and propaganda, how Muslims were targeted after the attacks. Dear God doesn’t it end?
That’s when I found her. I don’t know her name, I don’t what she looks like, all I know is her blog. Riverbend, thank you for giving the world insight to the happenings inside Iraq. Abu Gharib proved to many people that at this point Americans were de-humanizing Muslims. Kind of like Nazi’s did when Jewish people were thrown into Ghettos. I watched cowardly as I am. The only time I would speak out was online, in my class, and community. Too scared to travel to the Middle East and help people like Riverbend who are forced to live without running water, minimal food.,…any rights. She did get to live with worry, the sound of bullets, and memories of murdered family.
When Obama was elected everyone breathed a sigh of relief, thinking maybe the world’s not so bad, maybe we can accept.
Today Florida’s minister is burning Qur’ans.
Please God Help us.
