9/11

Before I start, I have to send out my condolences to those that lost family and friends on September 11th. I must also extend my utmost respects to the rescue workers, the firemen, the police officers, the pilots and everyone that lent a hand when it seemed as if all hope was lost on that fateful day, you are all heroes and will always be remembered as such.

I remember sitting at my desk, publishing an article when Brandon sent me a message that we were being attacked. I didn’t know what he was talking about but when I turned on the TV, just like the rest of you, I sat there in disbelief.

People say that the world has changed since September 11th, that things are somehow different. A lot of innocent people lost their lives on that tragic day, but the world we live in today is no different from the world we lived a year ago. Love isn’t created overnight and the compassion we’ve all shared for one another hasn’t just come to be, the strength this beautiful country has had since the 11th has always been there.

I’ve always had an incredible amount of pride in this country, our country, since I have seen the opportunity it has given myself, my family and millions of those around us. And to see it hurt and attacked in the manner in which it was last year broke my heart. It seemed to break many hearts across the country and across the globe, but the one thing it did not do was break our spirits, our passions and our drive to move forward and overcome. We, and when I say we I mean everyone from Americans to even those in Afghanistan that believe in justice and humanity, are a resilient people and the past year has done nothing but to reaffirm that. The 11th will never be forgotten but we, as a people, will not be set back by it. We have been living our lives, we have been helping one another and we have been doing everything in our power to make sure that we all get through this together.

What happened on the 11th can never be justified, not by any religion and not by any group of irrational fanatics that will never even begin to know the meaning of life. It is the coward that attacks those with no ability to defend themselves and it breaks my heart to think that it was a group of these cowards that led to the deaths of so many thousands on September 11th.

Since then I’ve wondered to myself, what it is I could possibly do to make things right. I hate the feeling of being powerless and for a while I started to believe I was. What we as a people and more importantly as an indivisible community cannot do is begin to feel helpless, because we’re not. It’s in how we treat one another and how we embrace diversity that we can show these people how strong we truly are. After the 11th we didn’t respond with hatred, we didn’t respond with vengeance, we responded by extending our hands and arms to each other and acted with kindness. Those that were responsible for September 11th will face the consequences of their actions, it’s inevitable, but we must take their anger and hatred towards us and the rest of the free world and use it to make us stronger; and in many ways, it already has. We’ve come together and bonded as a community more than I can remember throughout my 20 years of life and we must not let this fade away.

There’s no doubt in my mind that none of us will forget what happened on that September morning, but it’s up to us to make sure that our children and our children’s children don’t forget. We cannot let them forget all that it means to be not only an American but a free human being. An American isn’t defined by the soil that he/she was born on, but by that person’s mind and heart.

I write thousands of words every month but I’ve never had so many feelings and such an inability to express them all as I do now as I’m writing this. I can’t lie, there is a lot of hatred and anger towards these cowards (I dare not call them people) inside me but at the same time there is so much happiness that I feel when I think about the benevolence that has surfaced since the 11th. There’s so much more I want to say and so much more that I’m feeling, but as I remember the events and as I see those around me I know that we’re all in the same boat and we’re all feeling the same things.

So today, on September 11, 2002, I will board a plane and fly back home to North Carolina; not to prove a point and not out of spite, but because it is my life and I will be damned if I accommodate any group of such cowards in my life.

I hope you, your family and your friends all have a very safe day. Regardless of where you live or where your citizenship lies, continue to remain strong and let us never forget the day that humanity overcame evil.

I’ve been saying these two final words for years and I’ve meant it with all my heart every single time, with love,

Take care.

Anand