10 years and a week

We will never forget

So, it's been a week since September 11. And it's been a decade since the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.

In all honesty, I can remember what I was doing when it hit the news (I was eating breakfast and getting ready to go to school), I remember what happened at school (the teachers were all in the staff lounge watching the news, and they all looked somewhat frightened). BUT I don't believe it even phased or affected me when I was ten.If anything, the changes in policies and socio-political climate didn't really begin to affect me until I started college; although I did see some of the effects during high school. And for me, the anniversary comes and goes like any other day of the year.

Yes, it is sad that many innocent lives were lost on that day (This is the nature of war.). Yes, I am proud that this nation came together as one (Hence the saying "United we stand."). Yes, I respect the people who laid down their lives in order to protect our country and its people. But at the same time, hate emerged.

Forever Changed

One of the things that bothers me the most when the debate of the war against Iraq and Iran is brought up, is the statement along the lines of "We must get rid of the Muslim terrorists."  Muslim is in bold for a good reason, this had led to a popular belief amongst the public of the U.S. that ALL Muslims are terrorists. I believe there's something wrong with that line of thought. The Bill of Rights, the 1st Amendment I believe, gives each and every U.S. Citizen the right to religious freedom; you are free to express your faith and beliefs. This is one of the best freedoms this country has; but sadly, the followers of Islam have been recipients of hate from the public. From what I remember, Islam is NOT a religion of war, or of hate.

Along with that, is the supposedly random searches at airports. I understand that these are for safety, but they're still annoying when I get checked, especially since I frequently travel from Sacramento to San Diego; for example, from 5 one-way trips to each city, I was held back 4 times. My stuff had to be scanned a couple of times once, all I had in the bag were some books and a stuffed animal. Another time I was told my sweater was "too baggy", it was cold outside! (It was raining in Sacramento, and I still wasn't fully acclimated to the cooler weather.) But I digress, some people have noticed that there is some racial profiling going on with these pat-downs and searches. That might be true, especially at the two airports I frequent; so I really hope that the "random" part is implemented and not done based on how someone looks. Just because someone looks "Middle Eastern" doesn't mean he or she is Muslim, Muslim does not equate with terrorist; and followers of Islam are found within all ethnic and racial groups throughout the world.

Changing yourself
The U.S. is supposed to be a country of guaranteed freedoms; true we are free to DISLIKE a religion if we want to do so. But to say "I don't like Muslims because they killed x amount of people through terrorism.", I believe, would be to ignore the fact that there are millions of peaceful Muslims in the world. Just as you probably don't believe that a political party (and I mean any of the political parties that are in the U.S.) portrays your beliefs or what you think the country stands for, it is also wrong to allow yourself to believe that the acts of a few radicals represent a faith community which has been around for longer than the U.S. Constitution.

I definitely believe that each and every one of us should at least learn some of the basics of any and all religions, this helps in understanding the culture and dress and customs of others. We live in a globalized world, if other children are taught about the U.S. and some of our customs, wouldn't be just as respectful to learn about other parts of the world? I think it is, and maybe this will begin to bring about peace.


Any and all comments are appreciated, but please be respectful. I understand this is a very emotionally charged subject. Your thoughts are important too. 

 
 

Electricity and.... terrorism?

Yesterday, between the hours of 3 and 4 p.m the electricity (or power, whichever word you prefer) went out in most of southern California, parts of Arizona, and even down into parts of Baja California, Mexico. I don't think that has ever happened, at least not in the past twenty years or so.

First, I only found out because a friend called to ask if the power was out where I'm currently living (I was born and raised in SoCal) and I said "No. Why?" After she explained I shrugged it off as another "Oh, SoCal, your massive population has exceeded the demand for electricity, again." Power outages in SoCal are fairly common during heat waves like the one from this past week; the cause is possibly from the high usage of air conditioners. 

A few hours after this call, I decided to see what the San Diego news stations had to say about this event. Some of it was the usual reporting that the power had gone out and that they would keep updating as the day wore on. The irony of this: Without electricity there is no cable or internet, televisions, laptops, and computers don't work, so how are people supposed to find out what is going on? Smoke signals, maybe? But, there was also something that really caught my attention.  It was a short sentence at the end of the Fox news report I read online, but it had a much larger impact than the rest of the report. To paraphrase, this is what it said: This is not considered a terrorist attack.

This is not a terrorist attack
Wow!

Analyzing this through the lens of English (the subject, not the language), its position at the end of the report suggests one of two things 1) It's not important or 2)It's important, but we don't want you panic.


When I read that I was just SHOCKED that they would even add that thought. None of the other news sources had mentioned it. My second thought was: Why would you even THINK it was a terrorist attack? Closely followed by: "Oh yeah, it's almost the anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center towers."

It almost seems like we're expecting another attack near the anniversary of the event that shook the USA as well as the rest of the world. But cutting the power off to only part of the nation seems fairly meaningless considering it only affect a small region.True, the destruction of part of the World Trade Center was on the East Coast, but it affected the entire nation via new policies implemented in the name of safety and anti-terrorism. But at the same time, knocking out electricity points to our dependence on electricity, it's kind of a weakness. 


Thankfully, though, this wasn't a terrorist attack. To expect it to be is a bit of a far-fetched idea, but since September 11, 2001 the world and the USA became more uptight about security, more suspicious of seemingly innocent events; the world's socio-political climate changed forever. Something SoCal did learn, however, was it is extremely dependent on electricity, and it probably felt like the world had ended. We are definitely blessed to have a working electrical system. 



To learn more about the power outage here are some links:

This morning's

• San Diego FOX news report
• 10news report 
• BBC report 

Cutting, Suicide, and Pain

Over the past few weeks, I've spent some of my "free time" reading posts on the DeviantArt Secret page. I noticed many of the secrets were about the contemplation of suicide and of cutting and that made me think about how my life had been up to this point and about the people who have been a part of my life.

 One thing I want to put out there, I'm now 20 and I think my life is great. But I didn't always feel this way, between the ages of 13 and 14 I went through a period of a deep sadness. I never cut, but I did think about suicide sometimes. [To the Secret Tellers on dA: I hope one day you look back like I have done, and realize what you could have missed out on had you decided to end it all.]I think the feeling intensified right after an online friend of mine from RuneScape decided to take his own life. I never met him, and probably never would have, but that didn't stop me from feeling sad.

But that's not all that I thought of.

I realized that suicide rates are fairly high amongst teenagers. Why? First of all, the time from when we hit puberty until about the mid-20s are quite possibly some of the most trying times for all of us as people. Our bodies begin to change through hormonal cascades and we begin to notices changes in the bodies of others. Each one of us begins to feel the pressure of questions such as: "What am I going to do with the rest of my life?", "Who do I want to be?". (Or one could not, that's also possible.) Societal pressure seems to increase tenfold; as teenagers we wanted to be treated as adults, but we're still viewed as kids. The world becomes this GIANT, SCARY MONSTER! So what does all of this have to do with suicide? Well, while there is the biological changes there are also psychological changes. As I said earlier, these are difficult times for each one of us; this is when one begins to probably feel alone. As if no one else in the world understands what YOU are going through, not your parents, not your best friend, no one. Okay, got it? No matter how hard you try, no one else UNDERSTANDS. That is the mentality many of us had (or still have). If you didn't, then more power to ya!

This "alone" mentality is very powerful. It envelops all thinking and leaves very little room for hope. The alone mentality also makes one think that the PAIN you feel, no one else could possibly UNDERSTAND, no one else can possibly feel the same way you feel. But, the truth is someone else DOES understand. The pain that you're feeling, someone else has most likely gone through it. Someone else out there probably does feel the same way you feel. There is no need to feel like you're going through this life alone. Someone somewhere has gone through a situation almost exactly, or very similarly, to yours.

Well, that's fine and dandy. But what does this have to do with suicide and cutting?

Pain. Each of us feels it, experiences it, and it's highly likely you dislike it. And just reading the word itself probably made you feel it or remember a time when that's what you felt. I bring this word up because I believe it is THE main reason for both acts.

I've come to the conclusion that some people cut because they feel better afterward. Surely physical pain doesn't feel great, so why would anyone in their right mind purposefully inflict pain on his or herself? Because the emotional baggage hurts more than the physical act. At least that's what I've gathered from different reading materials and testimonies from friends. EMOTIONAL PAIN, that is what hurts more than the physical pain. How can this be? Emotions are a part of being human. They set us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.

I reached another thought, the one that spurred me write this blog. I've lived in the United States of America (in the Southwest to be more specific) all my life and the mentioning of sadness or loneliness or unhappiness is practically taboo. It's almost never mentioned; unless you talk to people in the field of psychology and psychiatry. As a society, I feel like we're never told that it's OKAY to feel sad, it's OKAY to feel a little lonely sometimes, it's OKAY to be unhappy. That those feelings are NORMAL, you're not a freak, you're not odd; of course they are normal to an extent, but that is a subject for another time. By cutting you are not showing how "tough" or strong you are, because it won't ever take away the larger reason for the pain. It's like putting a band-aid on a snake bite, it won't be helpful for very long. That same line of thinking, I believe, can be applied to suicide; you'll never know just how STRONG you will be when you walk out of the fire.

So, dear reader, what I really wanted to say with all of that is:

1. The loneliness you feel, the hopelessness you feel, the sadness, the pain, each person has felt that. It is a normal part of growing as a person, it is a normal part of being human. 
2. Whether you want to believe it or not, someone out there cares about YOUR life. And you probably care about someone else's life. (It's why we have friends, right?)
3. "You're braver than you think."

"If we knew each others' secrets, what comforts we should find."~John Churton Collins

As this is my first blog, any constructive criticisms are welcomed as are your thoughts in response to what has been said.