Editor,
At 7:15 a.m. on Sept. 11, I kissed my sleepy husband goodbye just like every morning. Like every morning, we said, "I love you," and our individual days began. It wasn't until I reached the office that I discovered the horrors unfolding on the East Coast.
My boss and I watched in utter shock as, live from New York the second tower crumbled to the ground. Later, we watched the reports of the plane crashing in Somerset County, Pa., a mere 40 miles from my grandmother's home and only 60 miles from where my husband and I were married just last year.
I cannot begin to count the number of friends I have living in New York and Washington, D.C., and I pray for their safety and well being.
The image of my warm and fuzzy morning played over and over in my head. I asked my boss how many people she thought might have done the same thing for the very last time. She said something then that I had yet to think about. She then said, "Yes, and what about all of the others who had a silly argument or snapped at their kids?"
That, to me, is a truly horrifying thought. My husband and I vowed that evening to never, under any circumstance, part angry. We posted this vow on our front door as a constant reminder.
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I am hoping that I can send a message here that life is fleeting. Each breath could be our last. This is not to say we should live our lives in fear of death, but we should make a concerted, daily effort to let those we love know how much they are cherished. We should treat those we see and interact with in our daily lives with as much kindness and charity as humanly possible.
I think it is very important for the non-Muslim members of this community to go out of their way to make our Muslim brethren feel comfortable and to let them know that we, as a nation and a people, do not judge all by the deeds of a few. Muslims were in those towers, as well as Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, atheists and basically representatives from every corner of the world.
This may mean doing something as small as making eye contact and offering a genuine smile on our ways to and from, saying "good morning or good afternoon," or continuing our patronage of any number of the Muslim owned businesses in our neighborhood.
It is so frustrating, this sense of powerlessness that many of us are experiencing. However, this sensation is not the truth. Every human being has infinite power when it comes to controlling her/his own perceptions and actions.
I challenge everyone to focus that power on making their lives whole, harmonious and overflowing with love. If everyone on the planet simply worked to this end, we would have no flying bombs. We would have no retaliatory strikes. We would and could have peace.
Bridgette Wagner
UNM student and staff member
