Enough Already

First of all - To my people who don’t have to go to work Thank God it’s Wednesday. You know who you are.

I awoke to the news that Greyhound Buses have suspended service across the United States due to an incident in Tennessee that took the lives of 10 passengers. Apparently one of the passengers slit the bus driver’s throat while he was driving. It’s funny that in the Fox News article I read they felt it necessary to identify the racial ethnicity of the assailant. Prior to the events of Sept 11th the race of the assailant would have been a small detail. Now that the nation’s terrorist radar is on full alert, we are conscious of every move made by someone that looks different from us. When will it stop people? It is my hope that this was an isolated incident and nothing more. We certainly don’t need anything else to get up in arms about.

The present situation is still as much of a mystery to me as it was the day I awoke to the live image of the second plane crashing into the WTC. We don’t know who did this. We know whom we are being told did it but we don’t know for sure. I’m tired of all the hype and all of the propaganda that is being put out to pull at the nation’s heartstrings. Yes, September 11th was a terrible day for all Americans. It was a terrible day for humanity as a whole because it showed what little regard some people have for human life. We should be angry about that. We should be angry with anyone who would use violence as a means to prove a point. I don’t think bombing villages of innocent people is going to solve anything or help America hold her position as a world super power. It is only going to make us look as sick and violent as the people that did this to us.

I was watching Ananda Lewis’ new show the other day and she had teenagers on, asking them how they felt about the WTC events and what they wanted done. One of the best things I’ve heard said since the entire ordeal started came from a young Pakistani American man who stood up and said, “Yes those were horrific images from 9/11. We’ve seen them over and over again in instant replay. Imagine living that every single day of your life; not in instant replay but in live action over and over again. That is life every day for some people in the Middle East.” I replayed his words over and over in my head. He is absolutely right you know. Think about the images you are used to seeing on television when news is reported from the Middle East. I remember thinking to myself in the first days following the attacks, “This doesn’t seem like they filmed it in New York. It looks like footage from Beirut or something.” I don’t want to see footage like that on a daily basis. I don’t want war to be happening in my backyard.

I’m tired of all the sad songs and sad video montages with voice-overs of people screaming and crying and asking where their loved one is with “Proud to be an American” playing in the background like some sick anti-climatic theme song that we have to hear over and over again. I understand the motivation behind it but I thought we were supposed to be getting on with our daily lives? I know that the victims need to be remembered and the day will live in infamy until the end of time but I’m tired of being reminded about it. Just like I was tired of being reminded about Aaliyah’s death over and over again. Enough already.

Some of you may think that I am being too harsh. I apologize if that is your perception. I don’t apologize for how I feel. We need to be building up human relations, not doing more to tear them down. Before we go blindly into the night, shooting at anything with a turban or scarf on its head let us make sure we know what we are doing. Our country cannot afford another Vietnam or another Korean Conflict. I don’t want to see my brother or my cousins or my friends being shipped off to some foreign land to shoot missiles and m-16s at people who only want to live their lives and be free of both American influence and the damn Taliban.

And I want you all to stop being suspicious of every foreigner you see. My friend Sadia is too pretty to be violent and she, as a Pakistani, is just as perturbed about this series of events as you are. The same goes for my friends Faizal, Shiraj, Kaneez, Nadia, Amira, Sameerah, Malik, and Khadijah. Stop staring at them like they are idiots when they come into your store, cross the street in front of your car, count your change for you at the bank, serve you your god damn Starbucks coffee in the morning. These are the same people that they were before the events of 9/11. Don’t let a few ignorant people make you look at them any differently. It’s all right to be proud to be an American. Just don’t be an ignorant one.