Always Remember

12 years ago my view of the world changed.
12 years ago I was 10.
12 years ago I had not known war.
12 years ago I had not known racial hate.
12 years ago I had not known mistrust.
12 years ago was 9/11.
I will never forget.

12 years ago in the early morning I went in to my parents bedroom to see why they hadn't woken me up for school. I was in 5th grade- top dog of my elementary school. I went into their room and on the TV I saw the news but I didn't understand what I was seeing. I asked my mom what happened. She said a plane hit some buildings- the Twin Towers- in New York. I asked her if it was an accident. She said she didn't know, but she didn't think it was. I don't know exactly when but I later found out that it was a "terrorist attack"- at the time I didn't know what that was but I learned, quickly.

I knew that sometimes people didn't like people of other races. I knew about slavery and Martin Luther King jr. I knew about Japanese internment camps and prejudice against other races from history classes. I didn't know that people hated us- hated Americans. Hated me.

A few months later a plane went down in a field- I think in Pennsylvania or Philadelphia- and my first question was "Was this a terrorist attack".

I had stopped trusting people. One event changed me from a naive child to an mistrusting skeptic.

2 years ago I was in Jerusalem.
2 years ago I was surrounded by people that I had been told hated me and my American-ism, people that believed similar things to the people that had attacked my country 10 years prior.

I was in Jerusalem a decade after 9/11. I was learning about Islam and Jihad and Middle/Near Eastern tensions. I was learning about an amazing culture that has existed since biblical times and has hardly ever known peace. I was learning about a people that I had been told hated me and my American-ism.

These were not the same people that hated me or my American-ism, although some didn't like my American-ism. These were good people who loved God and God loved them. All of the people I met in Jerusalem were a God loving people who were so incredibly loved back.

Extreme Jihadism (the 6th and 'optional' pillar of Islam) has changed my life. It stole my childhood trust and innocence.

Islam has changed my life. It has helped me see God in everyone, and in a sense restored my childhood trust.

I will never forget 9/11 and more importantly I will always remember.

Thank you to those who keep us safe- here and abroad. Thank you to the families of those who keep us safe for your support and sacrifice. Thank you to the leaders that are trying to create better relationships and understanding of each other to create a more peaceful and unified world.

Always remember.