September 11 Remembered

Can't believe it has been 7 years since 9/11. I guess everyone who were in the States during that fateful day remembers exactly where they were. Me included.

I was in University of Indiana-Bloomington at that time. The 10 of us were taking various classes for our pre-University, which is equivalent to matrix etc in Malaysia. As usual, after my 8am class, I would go to the cafeteria nearest to my dorm to have breakfast. And I usually sit my self near the exit (boleh ciao cepat) where the big screen tv is located.

The tv was tuned in to CNN. At that exact moment, they were showing clips of the first airplane hitting one of the twin towers. Other students there weren't exactly going berserk. I think everyone thought that it was a one in a trillion freak accident in New York. Shortly after that, I finished my breakfast and left the cafeteria to go to my dorm.

Then suddenly, the President of the Malaysian Student's Association called me up and wanted all 10 of us to go to her apartment. I was like, why? That was when I knew that a 2nd plane had hit the twin towers and people were saying that it was a terrorist attack. And knowing how popular muslims are depicted as terrorists, she wanted all the Malaysians to be at her place.

After that day, the 10 of us would always get escorted to class by our advisors, Deb and Julie. Which was kinda nice actually since it was getting colder as winter was approaching. I think that lasted for about 2 weeks.

The backlash in a university setting wasn't that bad. Apart from the incident where one of my friends got hit on the back for saying salaam to a fellow (Arab) muslim. But the university took swift action. A lot of discussions and panels were held in the days after 9/11. People were shocked, scared and angry and they had to somehow let it all out.

Even when I moved to Hopkins the next year, discussions on 9/11 were still going on. Muslims were still taking precautions as not to be too 'out there'. But overall, I think everyone took it in stride. It was an awful incident that no one wants to experience or remember, but people kinda have to because of all the innocent lives lost on that day.