{"id":118,"date":"2010-09-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-11T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fearofwhales\/2010\/09\/i-didn-t-know-any-worse.html"},"modified":"2011-06-23T09:49:34","modified_gmt":"2011-06-23T13:49:34","slug":"i-didn-t-know-any-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2010\/09\/i-didn-t-know-any-worse.html","title":{"rendered":"I Didn ‘ t Know Any Worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"http:\/\/www.werismyki.com\/imgs\/image-911cross.jpg\"All those years ago today, I can remember where I was\u2026 I was a sophomore in high school, we got at about 7 in the morning, before breakfast, he said that something terrible had happened, and I should turn on the news.<\/em><\/strong>
\n <\/em><\/strong>
\nI think the second tower had just fallen as we turned it on. The news footage that day was almost all of the standing towers, replaying the shots of the crash, of the towers smoking.<\/em><\/strong>
\n <\/em><\/strong>
\nI still had to go to school. My first period Geometry Teacher Mr. Duskett had a phrase on the board \u201cSeptember 11th<\/sup> 2001 a day that will live in infamy\u201d quoting FDR\u2019s famous speech about December 7th<\/sup>.<\/em><\/strong>
\n <\/em><\/strong>
\nIn second period English we didn\u2019t study at all, we just watched the news. My friend Salim sat right behind me and we both watched in awe as details began to pour in about the attacks. By this time it was clear that this was no accident.<\/em><\/strong>
\n <\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cWho would do this?\u201d he asked with tears in his eyes \u201cWho could do this?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I brought that story up recently in a discussion, when the anti-American sentiment of Islam was brought up, hoping the prove a point.
\nMy mother asked why I\u2019d never mentioned it before, she said when I got home from school that day I had told her we barley talked about it we just sat in stunned silence.<\/p>\n

There certainly was a lot of that. I told her “I guess at the time I didn\u2019t think that comment was terribly relevant”<\/p>\n

At first I didn\u2019t know why, and then I realized. Why would it be relevant? On 9\/11 an American was upset, aghast, and confused about who could do such a thing? Of course he was. So was I!<\/p>\n

Salim was my friend, he wasn\u2019t my \u201cMuslim friend\u201d or my \u201cMiddle Eastern friend\u201d he was just a guy, I went to Jr. High with him, we talked, I gave him an old laptop once. I was compassionate loving and non judgmental to him, Why? Because at the time, I didn\u2019t know I wasn\u2019t supposed to be.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know any worse.<\/p>\n

Salim\u2019s comment was in second period. It wasn\u2019t until Mrs. Delong\u2019s Social Studies 5th<\/sup> period we learned Osama Bin Ladin was responsible. And it wasn\u2019t until several days after that we high scholars figured out who Al Queda was. (actually we called them the Taliban back then) and it wasn\u2019t until the following months and years that our understanding of the middle east, and of Islam and of Muslim people began to change and sour
\nSo now when you think of the Middle East you think of words like Haamas and Jihad and Hezbollah, you think of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the terrorism in Ireal. That wasn\u2019t the case at 9 in the morning on September 11, 2001.<\/p>\n

I thought of Salim\u2026 and Omit, and that little guy from wrestling what was his name? \u2026Salmaan. Nice guy.<\/p>\n

None of them hate America<\/p>\n

None of them want to hurt Christians<\/p>\n

It\u2019s become commonplace now for Christians to cite that Islam is a dangerous religion, that they want to take over the United States, that they lie, that their prophet was a murderer, that it\u2019s a theocracy over there in the middle east. It\u2019s usually backed up by some half remembered verse in the Koran about what you should do to infidels\u2026<\/p>\n

I dunno what the Koran says, I can\u2019t read Arabic, and translation is considered theologically problematic. But if it says you should hurt people then these guys don\u2019t believe it, and there are others like them. As a matter of fact, they\u2019re ALL like them, nice guys and gals who love America and were shocked at the 911 attacks.<\/p>\n

Of all the Muslims I\u2019ve ever met in the US, Not one of them was cheering that day<\/p>\n

And a great many were crying.
\nThey must have known what was coming.
\n\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All those years ago today, I can remember where I was\u2026 I was a sophomore in high school, we got at about 7 in the morning, before breakfast, he said that something terrible had happened, and I should turn on the news. 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