by Hasan Goreja

Created on: September 15, 2008

Certainly not..I daresay. I was in my 9th grade when the T.V. stations broadcasted the hullabaloo regarding the terrorist attacks of 9/11 on one of the most famous buildings of the world. The World Trade Centre', also termed as The Twin Towers'. I didn't exactly know what had happened largely because I was, and am still, living in a place far from USA and was too small to understand all what was happening around. As the time passed and when in 2004, I also lost my Dad owing to his prolonged ailment, the hell broke lose on me. I starting feeling the way an average American must've felt upon losing a parent, a spouse, a sibling or a loved one.

Later on, when I viewed a recorded footing of the plane crashing into the Towers and subsequently the great crash, I could easily judge the misery of the people watching it live with someone dear gone to work in the same building. Turning a blind eye to such a scornful event was not possible with qualms of conscience a normal living being possesses. The commentator rightly said that America was on war.

But the fact of the matter is, if by collision of a jet or two with the Twin Towers accompanying the death toll of about 6000 people out of which not even 100 were military troops - can bring America on war, what could be termed as the American intrusion and attacks on Iraq, Afghanistan and now in Pakistan too, killing tens and hundereds of innocent civilians on a daily basis? Is it just the anti-terrorism' broom that America is using to swipe the grounds of Muslim abode, swiping away umpteen innocent Muslims inclusive of children and women daily?

From the words cited above, I'm not supporting the act of terrorism Americans had to swallow inadvertently. My only purpose is to ask the dear reader that if a single tragedy of this genre is causing such an upheaval on the global level, why so much silence about the massacre of Muslims all across the world? The prison camp set at Guantanamo, Cuba by America is a clear violation of human rights. The prisoners no matter how dangerous they are should not be denuded of the fundamental rights of a living self.

I studied from the travel accounts of those who traversed in USA before 9/11 and most of them have complained of the ignominy they had to embrace in response to a question of their origin or homeland. After giving the answer, most of them were bombarded with yet another question in a queer manner: "Where is that?" So they complained of the poor general knowledge of an American, but after 9/11, Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, Taliban they've all become household terms. This has given a chance to an average American to analyse the circumstances around and understand the difference.

As it is also said that Time heals all, and true it is. I never imagined my life without my father but now that much time has passed since his demise and the life has come back to its normal pace, the memories seem to evanesce away. But yes, there are occasions when no dam can stop the flow of emotions and even after trying hard, your eyes dampen up.

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