lc_story13.xml

lc_story13.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-02-18

I was at home on Sept. 11, and heard about the attacks on the radio. I then went downstairs and watched TV. It was truly shocking to see before your eyes events taking place that you never believed could happen. My wife called me on the phone to see if I was watching. Later I signed on to the Internet, and I called or wrote notes to some of my friends.

I'm afraid my strongest reaction, like that of so many others, is watching the tower fall from the sky. That and to hear spokesmen on the scene speculate about the number of dead. It was amazing and truly sad.

That's a much more difficult question. Sadness obviously, at the sheer number of innocent people who were killed for no reason. Anger, of course, at the Middle Eastern people who had been behind it. But so much more. A more probing mind about what it is about this country that would lead someone to do this. Are we somehow responsible? Is it oil? The clash of religous beliefs? Are we living so well in our country in part by taking advantage of people in these other nations? Are the people who did this to us just a small fraction of Muslims, or do they represent a large and growing subsgroup within Islam? What do they seek, ultimately - merely for non-Muslims to leave their countries, or is their ultimate goal to take over?
There are so many versions of Islam, and within the Middle East the more moderate ones are always trying to suppress the growing right wing minority. But it is hard for someone living in the United States to get a firm handle on which things claimed by Muslims are true and which are just bizarre.
This truly leaves me asking questions, probing answers to try them out and see how they fit.