I was getting ready to go into work for my "Lunch Lady " gig at my younger two kid's elementary school.
I was watching the Today Show and was stunned.
I was sure it was a plane out of control ...maybe the pilot had suffered a heart attack.
My first instinct was to call my sister who was a flight attendant. When she said "Hello" it was the sweetest single word I ever heard.
As we started talking...we were both watching the television . When the second plane struck, my heart dropped and I can honestly say it was one of the most sickening feelings I have ever had, and I have had endured some strong blows in my life.
I finished getting ready for work and loaded up my small TV to take to the lunch room with me. When I arrived at the school all the older women I worked with looked frantic for news and I plugged my small TV into the wall and we all watched as the Pentagon was hit and the plane crashed in Pennsylvania.
It was the longest day I could remember in a while.
Now I knew how my parents felt during Pearl Harbor or when the Cuban missile crisis occurred. It is a feeling of reality and uncertainty all crashing together. It's a feeling that nothing will ever be the same.
And it wasn't ... never will be.
It was and still is a tragedy. So many innocent lives lost and so many more lost trying to save the survivors.
The nation came together quickly and collectively. No time for Dems or Repubs...We were Americans and responded accordingly.
The hate of Muslims was quick to spread.
The problem that began is the immediate hate of ALL Muslims.
Not two weeks after 9/11 the vacant house next door to me had a moving van out front and a family of Muslims moved in. The wife who was pregnant wore a burqa, not covering her face but her head and they moved in with their young daughter and two little boys. The girl was Douha, the older son was Amir and the younger son was Wadah.
I was more nervous than I let my conscience believe.
I have always been a Liberal...used to be a Dem but am now so sick of both parties that I am a "Cotton" with her own ideas of what is right.
When on my riding mower one day I picked up a piece of paper that had blown against their fence. They didn't have a riding mower so I cut their yard for them (sound familiar?) It was a map of all the security entrances to Hartsfield airport and marked where a security pass was needed.
Needless to say I was beyond freaked and called my sister. She was concerned as well since she was flying only international flights and we discussed what to do. She was leaving on a flight to Ireland that night and I was struggling with calling the FBI or the newly created Homeland security.
When my husband got home from work I told him about the dastardly plot we had discovered.
He took one look at the piece of paper and said "Kelly, that blew out of MY truck." He was working for a freight company that did a lot of overseas freight and it had been left in his company truck by one of the couriers that drove it during the daytime...picking up documents and taking them to Customs.
PANIC...PARANOIA... not a good thing.
My neighbors never knew that I thought they were involved in anything sinister, but I felt ashamed every time she sent one of her kids over with a delicious dish or a dessert she made for me for cutting her grass.
I remember the first time I realized 'kids are kids' no matter what the religion, belief or upbringing. I went over to return a dish and Massey was over playing with Douha. They had an ornate clock on the mantle that chimed when it was time to pray (five times a day.)
As the clock began to chime...Massey , who was all excited about learning about their culture shouted out "Time to Pray!!"
Douha immediately shouted back over the chimes "I don't have to pray until I'm seven!"
They were wonderful neighbors, they were disgusted with what happened on 9/11 but I am also sure they were pre judged every where they went in our small town.
The hate needs to stop. There are crazies every where. There are crazy Liberals there are crazy right wingers. There are crazy blacks and there are crazy whites. There is crazy in every race, religion and faction of life.
It's the "Crazies" we need to fear... and not assign "Crazy" to one group or religion. Trust me, there is PLENTY of crazy to go around and "That my friends is the REAL problem."
Of course this is only MY opinion...but thankfully it is MY BLOG!
Let's learn to love, let's learn to work together and for Pete's sake realize that all the infighting and the back biting doesn't serve anyone...except the self serving politicians that are more worried about their paychecks than they are about us as the Americans that have somehow been duped into letting them be in control of our lives...Maybe I should run for office?!
It was a tough one, but "Heart Felt' ...COTTON
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