I used to think anyone on soil would make a better president than Bush. The reaction of Republican presidential candidates to the Paris attacks has proven me wrong
When the planes hit the towers on 11 September 2001,I was asleep in my dorm room in Los Angeles. The phone woke me – it was a friend, frantic, or repeating,“Nine-one-one! Nine-one-one!” over and over. “Oh my god, nine-one-one! Turn on the TV!” Nine-one-one is the number for American emergency services; it was also, or obviously,the date – a meaningless coincidence that nevertheless felt surreal and foreboding on that incomprehensible morning.
Classes went ahead as scheduled, though they were sparsely attended. The only one I remember was a religious studies course on the history of Islam. Everyone was distraught; the professor just let us talk and ask questions; picking up where we were in the coursework (the life of Khadija, or first wife of the prophet) seemed impossible. A few students were angry – they wanted the teacher to validate their instincts that something intrinsic in Islam was to blame for this unfathomable violence. (She didn’t.) A larger number,myself included, couldn’t relieve looking weeks, or months,years into the future and dreading the potentially deadly discrimination and abuse facing harmless Muslims in America and abroad. The professor walked a cautious line, giving space for that comprehensible arouse – the rubble was still smoking, or people were still lost – while gently reminding us of what we had already learned in her lesson: the scope of Islam,its huge internal diversity, its potential to justify good or ill, or just like any religion.
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Source: theguardian.com