Yesterday was the first day in over a week that we have had consistent internet access in our home. It also happened to be the day that I had the absolute least time for being online of the last week.
Yesterday was also the anniversary of a day that has shaped and defined my life for the last 4 years. I cannot adequately describe the memories I have of that day, even though they are still as clear to me as yesterday. But I believe that I can adequately describe how it has shaped my present and my future.
September 11, 2001 rekindled a fire in my then friend, and now husband's, heart to protect and serve his country, just as multiple past generations in his family served. He suppressed that desire for the next few years because of me. But the day came when he could no longer suppress it, and with me finally giving him my "I don't like it but I'll support you no matter what" speech, he enlisted in the Navy. I don't believe that I have ever seen him as proud as he was at graduation minus our wedding day and the births of our children. He may now not enjoy his job, he may become irritated with the bureaucracy and the backwards policies, but I also know that he wouldn't be the man he is today if 9-11 had never happened.
September 11, 2001 changed my view of the world. I went from having a fairly nationally minded point of view, to being more concerned than ever before at events in countries beyond North and South America. I began to take interest in more cultures and histories than ever before. I had always enjoyed them, but at a distance before. Suddenly, I found myself longing to spend time in those cultures and with those people. I want to spend time in Africa and India. I want to go to China and Korea. I want to spend time in the Philippines. I want to go to the Middle East. I want to see the land that my faith originated in, as well as begin to understand and relate to the people there more than ever. I still want to travel through South America, especially Honduras, and preach and teach there as well. For now, those plans are on hold. But I know without a doubt that one day I'll begin my travels. And every time I set off for another unknown place, I'll know that it began on 9-11.
September 11, 2001 did not just shape my current circumstances, and my dreams of travel for the future, but it reshaped my view point of the Islamic faith. It went to being something very distant and foreign to me, to being something that I want to understand and learn more about. Now, before I continue, I would like to point out that I stand very firm in my faith. I'm not in danger of converting (rather, this desire to learn more does nothing but strengthen my faith). But I am on a constant quest to understand more those that share the origins of my faith. I have so many questions about why they do certain things, why they believe in certain ways, etc. And I'm learning more and more every day. I'm learning that the stereotypes I believed for so many years may be accurate for a few, but in the lives of many they are just flat out wrong. I'm learning that while Christians often point to Muslims as examples of people strong in their faith, that Muslims often point to Christians as examples of people taking care of and loving on other people. I'm learning that there are many Muslim women who are much stronger and opinionated than I ever imagined. And I'm learning that people are simply people with problems and arguments and prejudices, no matter what their faith. "We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" -- the only difference in Muslims and I are that we place our hope of redemption of that sinful nature in much different places. Which is probably what leads the Christian faith to being so much more willing to help each other -- we are compelled to by the love Christ has shown for us, rather than by mandate. I know that my life is richer for the knowledge I now have, and I know that my faith is stronger based off of what I learned. And without a doubt I know that I would not have dived into this pool of knowledge and understanding, if 9-11 had never happened.
September 11, 2001 shook our nation to its core. It reminded us as Americans that we are vulnerable; it reminded us that we need to place our trust in God (oh how quickly that was forgotten though!); it reminded us that we needed to love and support each other in this country (something else we should be reminded of on a daily basis). But the reaches of that day went much farther than just to touch our nation, it touched individual lives. I'm certain that I'm not the only person, or even one of a few people, that can trace direct events and changes in their future back to that day. Instead, I'm quite certain that nearly every person that can remember that day has a story to tell about how 9-11 changed things for them.
So now I ask, what impact did it have on YOUR life?
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I need to come back to this post.. seriously. About to go shopping lol. But in the middle of this you touched on a big part of my life that started before 9-11, learning about Islam... I'm not about to convert either, but... anyways, I don't have time lol. I'll be back later today!
ReplyDeleteSorry about that...
ReplyDeleteOk about a year before 9-11 I was a sophmore at LCU. I'd already met Amy & signed up to go to TZ w/ her... but I met a group of guys through my roomate who were in flight school in Levelland. Most of them were from the ME (there was one from India, one from Belize & one from England but the majority were from Saudi, Egypt & Pakistan). 3 of us from LCU ended up dating guys from the school and went over there constantly. I learned a little about Islam during that time, but not a whole lot (despite my boyfriend at the time being Muslim). After we broke up, and after my first trip to TZ I really started reading into it out of curiousity.
Then 9-11 happened. I still remember waking up to my roomate cussing. I still had to have the radio on to sleep back then and she'd woken up to hearing it... Me - it just worked its way into my dreams & I didn't realize it was happening. She turned on the tv and let out an explitive that woke me from said dreams... Most of the rest of the day is fuzzy. I do remember talking to Mohammed online. Not my ex, one of the Egyptian guys who was dating a friend of mine... He was just as shocked and upset as we were... Didn't know if he'd ever be able to fly again because he kept picturing it & didn't understand how they could do it. I was freaking out at the same time because a ton of my family is military & I had no clue what was going on with them. So he gave me his last 10 min on a phone card so I could call home. I did & my grandmother blaimed him and the other guys for what happened, started yelling at me and asking me if I was happy.
A couple days or so later I had to give a speech at the school I was doing my stuff at that included me wearing hijab (was on my trip). I had a couple nice experiences, but also someone yell out the car window for me to come back where I came from... and that started me looking into how Muslims here were being treated. I ended up joining a group who did this Hijab day thing... only living in the LCU bubble meant I really didn't do much. Just got funny looks lol. Was about that time I fell in love with hijab though.
Long story short, in the years at LCU after that Islam worked into almost every class I took. I ended up using it in my big Humanities paper too. At once point I did consider converting (not something many people really know, but a few apparently guessed) because a lot of the religion makes sense, but... when it came down to it I don't believe its the Truth... I believe Jesus is the Son of God not just a prophet. Too many other things about my own religion just make sense to me. I think that time period did me good though. And I still like reading/learning about it as you can prob see from my blog list and cafemom groups lol.
Unfortunately the one thing that has really stuck though is I still love the hijab. I didn't know until very recently that I'm not the only Christian that feels this way... which is a blog post in the making I just haven't had time & really don't want to put it out this month anyway.
Anyways that's beside the point.. Throughout the whole mess and all the studying and friends I've made, places I've been & all that... I've changed a lot. I've always had issues w/ people being discriminated against, but.. its hard to explain.. but that day is like a turning point for me with that. It still gets me when I hear stereotypes and misconseptions about Muslims.
Throw in marrying an Arab Christian who has his own horrible story to tell about this time period and there ya go... My issues in a nutshell (rather large one of course).