9/11 - A remembrance

Ten years ago I just got out of the shower and getting ready to go to work I heard my roommate's voice - "Ashish just come here and see the news. There has been an accident, a plane hit a tower in New York". I ran and by the time I was there my Oh boy turned into Oh F$%#! Did the traffic control made this big mistake? I didn't want to believe International Terrorism just hit this shore too.
Mood in the office was sombre. Palestinians? Iranians? But by the lunch it was clear who. Even smiles on faces were filled with million questions. That day we were allowed to leave early and so we did but not before a friend had made sure talking to me at the Gym that I was a Hindu from India. Though I was happy to tell him but it was like as if some one just had let me go in the middle of a Riot knowing if I was one of them. The question kept coming to my mind as I drove back home.
I had rented out two of my rooms to two other Indian Guys. They had a bigger social circle and my house in the evening at least had two other cars besides three in the house parked. My neighbor was a nice man. He had helped me move in. Like mine he had many questions to ask about us. So do you Guys go to school here? He wanted to make sure if we three brown guys were not going to school, for looking some correlation. That day I also found out how little many here knew of Geography and culture beyond the American and European continent. A few days later a neighbor's kid punctured my car tires - it was a hate crime, I didn't report. Some of my friends were chased with a car while returning from a Diner but the situation remained in control something you could easily shrug off.
Tenth year and we got the news that everyone waited for. Osama is dead. Threat is not. US ended up with two unfunded wars that we thought would be just shock and awe. Didn't happen. We got a new President who once felt like a cool breeze. No one knows if he struggles with problems he got in legacy or is creating them. What we do know is its our problem and only its people can solve it. Lets pray together No 9/11 happens again, not in US, not in India and no where else in the world. Lets salute the Heroes and the victims and the Soldiers who died on and because of 9/11. And a message to all those who still are on the path of violence - It is easiest to kill someone else, easier to kill yourself, a little difficult to live your own life peacefully and the most difficult is to help others live with peace. God accepts and loves those who take the high road.