Today is September 12th. And it’s slowly becoming my favorite day. Since today is September 12th, it’s only obvious that yesterday was September 11th, also known as Patriots’ Day. It’s one of those holidays that we only partially “get” since we don’t get the day off. Luckily though yesterday was a Saturday so we were able to better observe the day. In maybe a few years Sept 11 might trump Labor Day as the official end of summer, and we will find ourselves grilling, playing at the beach and taking advantage of various merchants’ price cutting. But for now 9/11 is a day dominated by two participants. The first is a beautiful collection of those grieving the lose of a loved one, the lose of some sense of innocence and clarity, and those celebrating the bravery and resiliency of the American Spirit that shined so brightly that day in the form of first responders, and in the days that shortly followed of unity. We were truly the United States. The other group of people are those bitter, proud, distrusting and hateful people that are not as numerous as the first group but so much more louder.
Every middle of August comes the Anti-Islamic, Anti-Muslim, “you can’t trust any of ‘em” mentality. It’s almost as though a portion of the American population has PMS once a year and takes it all out on a group of people. They begin to rehash the past. They take an act carried out by at least 19 fanatics, and plotted and supported by numerous more cowardly fanatics and turn it all into religious war. As long as we have troops in the field fighting people that have associations with what occurred on 9/11 or we have soldiers fighting in a country with people that look a lot like those that attacked us and in some very general sense believe in the same religion we are forced to deal with what happened on Sept 11, 2001. Every year we look back at that day and see that we have not moved on from that point. We are still dealing with what happened that day and how it changed us, and we ponder about what effect that day will have on our future. As we do so, some of us look for the quick solution so assuage their pain and doubt. They lash out at the “other”, the ones that look like those that attacked us. Those that confess to believe in the same religion, yet not in the same beliefs. They take all Muslims and throw them into one group, and make them the enemy, the reason for the September season.
So for about a month anyone who turns on the TV news, talk radio, or looks at blogs or real internet news outlets are forced to encounter the anti-Muslim rhetoric. We are forced to hear how they are all the same, they want us all to die. The general public must know about the ignorance and insensibility of other people and how they wish to remember the day to burn some Korans, to protest the building of mosques, or outside mosques that are already built. We must hear how they are still plotting against us, that no Muslim can be a true American. We must hear that we are at war with Islam, sense Islam is at war with us.
These protests, burnings and other demonstrations of utter stupidity are broadcast throughout the world. Why were General Petereaus and Chairman of Defense Gates so adamant about Pastor Jones cancelling his Koran burning? Because the international media would pick up on it, and broadcast it and it would be misconstrued as a representation of the American public’s attitude and activities. These bitter and hateful people, though little in number, become the representation of what Americans think and feel. Because these few loudmouth criers are so loud and fanatic that outsiders see them and only them, they soon believe that the spirit of hate that they carry is shared by all Americans. It’s ironic to see how the people that fight against Muslims, and carry forward their doctrine of Anti-Islamic hate are like those fanatics who murdered 3,000 people on Sept 11, 2001. The number of people that plotted the attack and carried it out don’t even make up a measurable percentage of the Muslim people in the world. The members of Al-Qaida and other terrorist outfits make up a small percentage of the Muslim world, but because they are loud and active they are able to beguile the few foolish outsiders into believing that they all Muslims must feel that way. In reverse the few fanatical Americans through their activities and boisterous nature make foolish outsiders believe that all Americans are like them. The only difference between the fanatical murderers of 9/11 and the fanatics against them is the amount of blood on their hands.
The day after Halloween or Christmas (two of my favorite holidays) are always downers for me. Because I prepare for weeks before each holiday, decorating, going to parties and community functions, watching movies and listening to music. There’s so much anticipation for those holidays that when the day is over it’s sad to see it all go away and know that you have to wait another year to see it again. But for me Sept 12 is such a great relief. I can finally stop hearing about the evil Muslims, about mosques, about hatred. I can know that finally we can turn our attention to the here and now. That we can deal with real problems that we can solve, like the economy, education, crime, and not get caught up in discussing the past and who we still need to punish and not trust.
