Sitting in my room, more than a week past the tragedy that occurred in New York, I can't help but to just stare off into space and think about my position on what happened. Like many, the cousins and friends-of-friends who were around New York at the time of the event seem far removed and almost unreal. No matter how hard I try to place myself in context with them, I am unable to see their faces and there is no closure.
It was a few days ago that a friend described to me the heavy dust layering the air and the streets of New York. The overpowering stench of charred remnants lay in the air, and ideas of victims incorporated into the buildings' remains made her hesitant to leave her apartment.
How can we make this event a milestone?
I wait with no avail to see when the devastation will finally settle out; when the American history textbooks can be read by people with the same inability I have to relate to events such as JFK's assassination or the Vietnam war. Asking my parents where they were when those events happened, I wonder if I will get the same hesitation and sad sense of nostalgia that comes across there faces. My father tells me of friends from college who he never saw again after being sent to war.
The United States will never truly be able to put all these events in the past until public reactions from the attack cease. The actions taken misguided Americans toward fellow citizens further draw out the painful consequences of this terrorism.
A friend at Alfred University told me of two Muslim-American students who had been harassed and attacked by fellow students. The complete confusion and ignorance of the American public and the mislabeling of the terrorist attacks as a jihad by the media further complicates our nation's recovery.
As just one of millions of Americans, I find it frustrating that it never occurred to me that some of the bombing victims could have been Muslim. But is it necessary for the public to see a body of an Islamic victim to distinguish terrorists claiming their actions in the name of religion from the majority of the Islamic community who sits besides the non-Islamic peoples in equal shock?
The bombardment of death toll numbers and overwhelming cell phone conversations, e-mails, and answering machine messages of the victims' last words to loved ones can not be put aside with ease, and nor can the general anger and need for retaliation. But, the question our pregnant fascination with this event begs the question: Does the public know how to be progressive?
Speeches given by university President Greiner, Dennis Black and various SA clubs have helped the student body heal by educating them about the Islamic religion and its fundamental beliefs, which are directly contradictory the terrorists' acts.
With the constant mention of "war" in President Bush's statements, and the unavoidable insinuations on television of war within the graphic titles scrolling across the bottom of news programs, such as CNN's "America's New War," can we control our human condition to pose blame?
What if bin Laden and those responsible are brought to justice? Will the punishment be enough to satisfy the American public?
