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This is our real tragedy. Are we more vulnerable? Oh yes. But so are so many other people in the world on a daily basis. Now we are one of them. This appears to be the real globalization we didn't ask for when we became the power lords of the world. —Judith Hansen, Los Angeles, CA

Our President's blustery campaign against Iraq and the eroding of our own civil liberties has made me very anxious. Genuine, national self examination would be a tribute to those who tragically died on 9/11. Perhaps we could prevent similar horrors in the future. —Marlene Hardy, Orange, CA

So, for me, 9/11 was simply and tragically the arrival of Middle Eastern politics on our shores. In no way did the U.S. deserve what happened. And I am gratified that our government has taken a "Search and Destroy" approach towards the groups that planned and executed it.

What is disheartening, however, is the demonizing of Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. I have given several speeches a month around the Twin Cities since 9/11 discussing Arab Culture and Islam with service organizations, churches, college groups, and with students in my Middle East Political Economy classes. The U.S. stands for freedom of speech and worship and we are rightly proud of our legal system. What I am most worried about is that in our pursuit of Al-Qaeda members, none of whom deserve compassion or understanding, we detain and hold any Arab or South Asian Muslim who "fits a profile." My son, who is half-Lebanese, has been called derogatory, racist names in his high school aimed at his Middle Eastern heritage. He has resolved some of the disputes with his fists.

Therefore, the change in my life is that I am compelled to make more presentations in public about Muslims and Arabs that neither demonize nor romanticize them; telling personal anecdotes about living in Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Eritrea, and Saudi Arabia seems to be the most helpful way in which to clarify what Arabs and Middle Eastern Muslims are all about. I have become more skeptical about the U.S. government because of the administration's unwillingness to tell us whom they have detained. I am deeply saddened that our "war against terrorism" when one examines it closely is really a war against militant Islamic groups, most of whom have local agendas and grievances. This will create terrible back draft for us, just as our support for the mujahadeen in Afghanistan in the 1980's did. —Jerome Farrell, Minneapolis, MN

However, since 9/11, I feel less and less patriotic in the flag-waving, militaristic sense. I'm proud of Americans and how we come together here, I'm proud to call myself an American. But, we are embarrassingly obtuse as a member of the world community. Our government doesn't get it. We continue to act like we're the only country in the world; instead of a superpower trying to cooperate with the world to make peace, we isolate ourselves and act with impunity; we impose our will on the rest of the world, we use "the war on terrorism" as an excuse to act like jerks around the world. We don't get it...I'm frustrated because this isn't the way to solve the problem and it isn't the way to grow and heal. The world is much too small and unpredictable. Because of this, we need to cooperate with, understand and respect everyone. "Superpower" is a term that isn't relevant anymore; its a term that describes a cold war environment and every time we are involved in an international arena, we see how America being a superpower matters less and less. —Chris Carlson, Minneapolis, MN

But while the rest of the world was able to go back on with their regular lives, mourning the firefighter heroes and those who died in the crashes, my hell had just begun. See, my family is military. My father is the man in charge of all those vaccines against anthrax and smallpox you keep hearing about in the news. And my youngest baby brother, my best friend, this gentle 6'8" giant who stayed up late sharing secrets and tears, a friend that actually came along in all the moves the Army put us through, my brother is the cannon fodder that kept you safe. And you didn't even remember. A week after September 11th, I got a call that my baby brother was being shipped off somewhere with the plane he works on for the Air Force. He couldn't say where. He didn't know when he would be back. He didn't think he could be in touch where he was going. And as I sat there talking to him in the dead of the middle of that terrible night, I realized this was perhaps the last phone call I would ever have. What more can you say than, "I love you forever."

And so as the world's wounds healed, for six months, I woke up to September 11th. Six months I woke up every morning wondering if my best friend died while I was asleep. Imagine watching those planes crash into the tower every day. My brother was supposed to come home for Thanksgiving. For Christmas. Nothing. I began to receive emails from my brother. 'NSYNC was supposed to come perform for the troops. They cancelled because they got a better paying gig. The troops received no care packages from the States. No Christmas greetings. Other than a few minutes on the evening news, no one seemed to notice. I watched as the world healed with anger, with anger that they would remember the heroes that died on September 11th, but not remember the people who were dying this very moment. Do you remember the Canadian boys who were killed in a stupid senseless helicopter accident over there? I do. It could have been my brother. And I cried tears for the families, now knowing what it really meant to lose a loved one. Watching those yuppies in their BMWs yap on their cell phones who were going on with their lives because the most wonderful person in the world was giving up his own for their pathetic existence. His life for a barrel of oil. My brother came home, but he missed his daughter's first steps. He missed his daughter's first words. And as I hear these cries against Iraq, more death, more bombs, I begin to scream in my head, "You who do not remember there is someone dying for you this moment, your job, your low gas prices, your cell phone are not worth his life! My family has given up everything for you! And I say now that you are not worth it!"

And so, my life is so different today because your life is not. My life changed so that September 11th might become nothing but a bad dream for you. Healing? Not until our troops come home. Not as long as I now know there is someone somewhere waking up each and every morning wondering if her best friend died while she was asleep.

And so as America forgets that all death is pain, as America cries out for war, I look at these people and wonder what they would say if it was their own child. And in all the coverage of 9/11, the images of the Towers and the firefighters, I wonder who will remember those who are reliving 9/11 every day. —Kate Danley, Los Angeles, CA

I feel that America was ready to make sacrifices and that important measures could have been taken. Think about what America did during the great depression: we built schools, dams, bridges, power plants, brought power and clean water to those without, built up the national parks, created lasting art. In World War II, the nation was united in sacrifice: serving in the military, buying War Bonds, saving scrap metal, and so on. What have we been asked to do now? Go on vacation? Keep traveling? Keep spending? The opportunity presented of a united America ready for sacrifice has been squandered by leaders without any real vision of what we could be. Our grief and outrage could have been and should have been channeled into positive things to improve life in this country and around the world. Instead we were told to keep spending. This shows no recognition of the fact that we needed to mourn our losses, we needed to have something positive come out of our grief. —Betsy Hall, Los Angeles, CA

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