We remember

Nine years have passed since the attacks on September 11th. Nine years of mourning, of fighting back, of patriotism. Since that day, we have gone to war with two countries to try and take back what we lost on that day. One thing we can never get back, though, are those loved ones who died.
Many people think that, now, nine years later, going to war was a mistake. But defending this country is something that can never be wrong. The way in which we do it may be flawed, but defending ourselves against those who would see our destruction will never be wrong. It is important to remember what we are fighting for, and to give constant and unending support to those who are making sacrifices for our well-being.
Now, nine years later, the time has come to move forward. Not move on; we can never completely move on from this. Instead, we must begin to change the way we think and feel.
Coinciding with the anniversary of September 11th were two events. The first event is the debate over the infamous "Ground Zero Mosque". People are in an uproar about a group of Muslims who are attempting to open a cultural center two blocks away from ground zero. The protest has been immense, and a debate has been going on for weeks.
We need to stop debating this. If the group owns the land, they are entitled to build their cultural center on this place. Just because the terrorists who were involved in the September 11th events were Muslims does not mean all of Islam is a group of terrorists. We have to stop our ignorance. We can no longer be prejudice against people because we choose not to understand their society and culture. It is our obligation to better understand these people and begin to relate to their culture.
Another situation has dominated our news recently. A man in Florida had planned a Quran burning to commemorate the date of 9/11. He and his church congregation thought that this was a way to remember that day.
To be perfectly clear, this behavior is unacceptable. To use destruction of an important, holy object to remember those lost is an insult to the lives that were taken. Hatred is not an acceptable or tolerable way to remember others, for it is that very hatred that brought about the attack in the first place.
One of the biggest problems with this situation is that we are lumping people together. We are making the assumption that because a few Muslim extremists did a horrible thing, that must mean all of Islam is a religion full of terrorists and America-haters. This is, at its most basic, a ridiculous assumption. We cannot overlook the fact that the "bad Muslims" are a small group within an overall peaceful religion. This assumption is on par with thinking that, because the Ku Klux Klan members are technically "White Christians" that all white Christians must be bad people. In truth, the KKK is a small group of protestants who are taking the horrible actions that the KKK does. Even more important, the KKK hates and targets Catholics, another sect of the same basic religion. This is the same way for jihadist Muslims. They killed other Muslims during the 9/11 attacks. How can we say, therefore, that we can never forget the lives that were lost, and yet we forget that it was not simply white Americans who died that day.
This all being said, we now have an obligation. We have an obligation to change the way we think about others. We have an obligation to buck our ignorance and get better at accepting others. And we have an obligation to move our world toward peace.


זכרונם לברכה
May their memories be for a blessing.