Being an American living abroad on an anniversary of September 11th is an odd experience and perhaps has given me a broader perspective of the events. It’s a day that to sound totally cliche, but every American remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing.
I am no exception. I was 12 years old and our grade was spilt into our respected two groups that had all of our meetings together. The morning had a strange feel to it as kids were randomly getting pulled out of school, so we knew that something was going on. A little before noon they put us in to the two 7th grade science classes and told us what had happened. I didn’t even know what the Twin Towers were before this, but I knew it was bad. The one question I had that day was, why?
This morning in Tbilisi I woke up to my alarm going off on my iPod to and the date came up. September 11, 2012. This feeling of just wanting to be alone came over me and in America where it’s “safe.” It is a day that I don’t like to talk about, mostly because I think if I had to pin point where my childhood might have ended this day would be as close as I could get. When I was getting ready to go to a meeting I tried deciding on to wear I was going to go with my red cowboy boots, navy cardigan and light grey dress (I try not to own white clothes. I destroy them) to show support for America.
I read an article the other day about how Americans often lie when they are traveling about where they are from out of fear and how we need to reclaim pride of our nation. So when I was on the metro coming home this evening Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The U.S.A.” came on and I rocked out to it mouthing the words and dancing a little. I didn’t care who starred at me, if there was one day to say “I am an American and proud of it” today was the day. Maybe signing the Star Spangled Banner would have been more appropriate, but this is me and I will reclaim my Americanness in anyway I see fit.
Also the events of that day have made me push my boundaries. Horrible over generalizations were made because of it, like “all Muslims are terrorists,” “the world hates America,” and so on. My parents taught me to think for myself and I started to question this almost right away, unfortunately, maybe, for them this had fueled my desire to travel. When I first started traveling solo I was careful for a little bit to “hide” my Americanness, lying and telling people I was from Canada. Now I’m completely open and honest because I have never gotten a negative response from anyone, beside maybe someone from England or Australia. Generally I find most people, especially in Eastern Europe where I’ve traveled the most lately, to be curious, over welcoming, and wanting to know everything. I also am compelled to visit countries that people generally cross off their travel lists because of miss conceptions. Being surrounded by two Muslim countries and Muslim territories in Russia may put some people on edge. When I walk by a Mosque I look at it with curiosity and wonder about the unknown of them to me, but I never see a training ground for killing or hate.
One of my roommates this semester is from Iran and without a doubt is one of the most interesting people I have ever met. I sit like a child listening to him talk about his travels around the world and most of all about Iran. It is such a misinformed subject in America and people tend to write it off as every citizen from there hates us. For the most part they don’t hate us, just our governments don’t like each other to put it simply. It is not as restrictive and primitive as the media makes it out to be. There is Facebook, sex out of wedlock, drinking alcohol, free thinking, consumerism, and more similarities then differences between the people of the two nations.
This isn’t a day for hate, but remembrance and understanding, because without exposure to experiences and ideas we will never know what we are missing. Not so long ago people were not so fond of the Irish and Italians, but without them there would be no Guinness or any Italian food that most of us love. I just want to ask one thing of you on this day of remembrance, go and talk to someone from a different culture that you normally never would. It doesn’t have to a conversation filled with politics, just things you would talk to a friend about. You’ll probably be surprised. If you aren’t motivated by what I’ve said, think about me in Georgia and how when I first got here I knew no one.It always makes things a little bit easier when a Georgia wants to know more about my culture and share some of theres with me. There are probably thousands of Emilys out there right now who are away from their friends and families and that one person could make all the difference and change their perspective.
And Bruce Springsteen for your listening pleasure.
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