September 11, 2001 - How I felt that day - Emotions of a Muslim Kid on 9/11/2001

I want to talk about 9/11 today.

The date reminds us of an event which changed the face of the mother earth forever. There are many faces to the event itself and which have been authored/filmed by different schools of thought all over the world. However, Today, I’m going to write about the emotional value of the event I have had all my life regarding this date.

I come from a Muslim family. I’ve just mentioned that to register my interest in eliminating the stereotypes. I, my Dad and my brother were watching a TV show that evening (different time zone). All of a sudden the screen changed to Twin Towers burning in fire in result of an explosion. Our National Television telecasted CNN’s broadcast as they didn’t have their direct coverage of the event. For good 2 minutes or so, we kept thinking that it was a part of the show we were watching earlier. However, we couldn’t relate the both in our minds. After realizing it was an actual news, my Dad called my Mom and everyone else present to the TV room. We all sat silently and watched the news and were in a shock.

The shock was obvious because world before that day was different from what it is now. You didn’t get to watch explosions, blasts and bombings on news as frequently as you do today. And an explosion of that level? It was surprising for all of us. We started praying for the people present in the buildings and my Mom forgot about the food she was cooking in the kitchen.
The part of the news that mentioned ‘Hijacked planes crashing into the Twin Towers’ was the part that hurt us the most as it was being reported as an act of an Islamic group. My emotions were hurt that day badly. I started questioning myself. I asked Dad about the health of the mind behind all that. My Dad is a religious person. I was expecting some extreme remarks but his words were very satisfactory. He told us all it was a sick mind thinking of a sick act. Killing an innocent is just as killing the whole humanity. It is one of the verses in our religious book. How could the people behind that heinous act forget the most fundamental rules of the religion they claimed?

My emotions were with the families who got affected that day. My emotions were with those participating in evacuating the buildings. My emotions were with the firefighters who had tears in their eyes while rescuing people. My emotions were with the increasing number of dead which were being reported continuously. I didn’t even feel like going to school the next day. I didn’t want to talk about it, or even talk at all. It was a sad day in the history of this world. It changed our lives forever. It changed everything. My emotions are still with the affected ones and with the nation who suffered the most on this particular day 16 years ago. I wanted to fight the ideology behind all of it. I was a kid and all I could do was to hate every single person who thought it was right. And that is what I did, and I still do.

I wish I was a superhero and I had a power to undo one event. September 11th, 2001 is the date which I would have changed. But it is real world, real life and real people. Things have been difficult for everyone after that. Things have been so different for us living (in Lahore) so far away from New York.

Photo credit: @sabas

I am emotionally hurt but am hopeful that things will get better someday. I hope the day comes in my life. I hope the world witnesses Peace sometime soon. The real Peace! Love and Peace from this part of the world to those who went through so much and I’m sure they still feel the same. We should all listen to each other, understand each other and accept each other as we are. As the peace prevail until we understand each other.

(I wrote this in my laptop yesterday, but my internet wasn’t working at home. Posting it from my workplace now.)