Yes. More serious than Eat Randy.
For real, though, I've had a lot on my mind lately. Not in a dark, depressing sort of way, but just in a heavy sort of way.
The first thing I'd like to address is September 11th, which was yesterday. I was just a kid, seven years old, when the twin towers were bombed. Even then though, I knew it was a big deal. It was the first time I'd ever seen so many adults upset about the same thing. Within a year, people had gotten all crazy, blaming the government, and hatching conspiracy theories. I think that's really sad, but even more than that I think it's too bad that our nation pulled away like that, because right after the attacks our country was really united.
For once, everyone looked at people like police and firemen as heroes, instead of complaining about cops on the freeway or saying there were too many firefighters hanging out at the gym. For once, people made the realization that families are more important than stacks of bills.
I remember my mom telling me that President Bush had asked for each child to send a dollar to help the nation. I remember asking my mom if I could send two.
Whenever September 11th rolls around, I guess the memories of the time immediately following comes back to me. So I just wanted to take a second to say I still believe in America. Even though there are a lot of problems with our country, and even though I believe there are many less than upright politicians out there, I still believe that America is the best place on earth. We have been blessed to live in a land with amazing opportunities, where anyone can be a hero, and where amazing things can happen when we actually do unite. For a country built on a principle of "United we Stand, Divided we Fall" and bearing the words "One nation under God, Indivisible," in our pledge it is unreal how we clump into factions and go at one another's throats to defend our points of view.
So I don't know what brought all these feelings about exactly, except that patriotism has been on my mind due to the time of year. I just wanted to be say it, to say that it really wouldn't hurt us all to be a little bit nicer to everyone else.
One of my very very very best friends in High School was super liberal. I'm extremely conservative. As an LDS woman, I accept the differences between man and woman, and that we were created for different purposes, and I don't see that as a limitation. My friend didn't view this the same way I did, but guess what? That never mattered to me. I still loved her, and being her friend helped me not judge people for their views as much as I maybe would've before.
I'm not trying to say I'm perfect now, or that I never judge, or that I'm what everyone should aspire to be. All I'm saying is that in my senior year of high school I realized that what we believe doesn't necessarily define us, and we can care about people with whom we disagree. My friend always knew I didn't see things the same way she did, but we still had fun.
We don't need to ostracize people who thinkdifferently than we do. We don't need to tear other's points of view down, just to make ours seem right. We don't need to make assumptions based on race or gender.
I guess that's something else that really impacted me... My current job is as the Independent Study History Tutor. As a part of this job, I grade a couple of courses. One of the courses I grade is USA 41, and as one of the assignments for this course students are required to write "An American Anthem" about September 11th. Needless to say, I have gotten a wide range of strange songs, some of which have made the book of "weirdest assignments ever". However, on Monday I received the course portfolio from a Muslim girl, and her anthem on September 11th made me almost feel a little sick to my stomach.
Her anthem talked about how she and her family watched the terrorist attacks with the same horror as every other American citizen, but her family was all treated with suspicion after that day. They were ostracized, and questioned, and judged, just because they were of the same race and religion as some evil men halfway across the world.
Why do we do that? The hate that the human race is capable of is something which makes me want to make a change. I want people to know that I don't want to be like other people who would hate them just because they aren't white, or because they're poor, or because they're gay.
So while I know that this isn't much, and I know that realistically only about five people actually read my blog, I guess this is my way of kind of making a stand and saying let's all just love each other. We don't need to accept people's sins, but we do need to accept them.
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| God Bless America |
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