Quote:
Originally Posted by seranab
Before that day I used to feel safe being Muslim. I didn't feel the need to defend any action I did. I hate when people look to me to try and explain what those men did... I don't know why they did it, but they didn't learn it from the religion - they were warped.
I flew over to New York a couple of years later to pay my respects to those who died - it was a sorrowful sorrowful moment in my life. It was scary that something so huge and magnificent was brought down in a matter of hours. That day changed my life, and after the 7/7 bombings in London - Muslims were suddenly the "outcast" pscyhologically. It was strange because every moment of my time speaking to a stranger would be exhausted expressing how much true Muslims are opposed to any form of terrorism... even any form of killing - then one day I said "why do I have to express that?" I wasn't in that plane... I didn't do that disgusting act that left a gaping whole in the heart of the world? I'm innocent - I've done nothing wrong. My psychology has changed, I became inward after september 11th because although I wasn't there and nothing to do with it - I was blamed when people looked at me, and the media does a good job painting people like me the enemy, whether intentionally or unintentionally, as a result in England Muslims have become paranoid, they're always feeling "Somebody is out to get them"... most rational people know its not true, but the media doesn't help quell those fears - they just pour petrol on the fire.
My grandparents were German and had last names like Sauerbeir, Gutacker, Weitz and Klafehn. They had to be VERY careful during WWII to not be too 'proud' or outspoken of their German heritage...but being German wasn't something that was as easily distiguishable like being Japanese was with such distinguishable facial features back then or being Muslim is today with the headdress, etc. My German ancestors moved here in the 1850's and had about as much to do with Hitler as you had to do with the terrorists on 9/11. My grandparents said they just had to kind of keep their German-ness to themselves, deal with it, and realize that people aren't acting personally, they're just really, really freaked out and suspicious of everyone because you just never know...
Now, here's a story to make you feel you're not alone. I'm a hairdresser and I used to have a wonderful customer with the last name of Nakanishi. She was so nice and so sweet and I did her hair for years. Well, I moved to a different salon and she followed me and in that salon was a stylist that had a customer that lost her husband in WWII, I believe, to a Japanese kamakazi dude. Well, here we were in 1995 and this customer starts spouting anti Japanese rhetoric to my sweet, little customer that I loved dearly!
I was so mad! She actually told my customer that she didn't have a right to be in the salon! But, Ida just brushed it off and said, "I get that sometimes, but I understand that some people here had really bad things happen to them by the Japanese and I try not to take it personally." Um...not to mention what we did to Japan to end the war!
So, to sum it up, some people are ignorant, but a lot of people's lives were destroyed by a handful of extremists that were, unfortunately for the gazillions of peace-loving Muslims in the world, worked under the cover of Islamic/Muslim platforms. They ruined it for the Muslim world, just like ****s ruined it for a time for Germans and the kamakazi dudes ruined it for a time for the Japanese. This, too, shall pass...hopefully sooner than later.
Rational people know that just because you're Muslim doesn't mean you're a terrorist...try not to blame them...blame the extremist terrorists that are ruining it for the peace-loving Muslim community.
As for the original question: I was watching Bob the Builder with my son when the planes hit. My blood went cold and I thought...here we go...WWIII!! It hasn't changed my life or anything. I believe the TRUE terrorists of this country are child molesters and pedophiles. THEY are the ones that have changed the country and made it an unsafe place to grow up.
JMHO