Six years later...

...and all seems to be "normal" inside the Empire: the students are shuffling off to classes, the workers are punching in, breakfast is on the table, and the kids are chatting away on their cellular phones and instant social networking websites. In retrospect, one might have difficulty believing that, six years ago today, the lives of those of us on this continent were altered forever as we witnessed commercial airliners crash into each of the twin office towers in Manhattan that signified the World Trade Center, and the subsequent collapse of said towers - accompanied by an attack on the Pentagon and an airplane crash in the fields of rural Pennsylvania - and deaths of nearly three thousand of our brothers and sisters. We watched the images on our televisions in disbelief and horror. We shed tears for the loved ones we lost, and tried to console those whose lives were shattered. We did not know what was to happen from this point onward: was this carnage to continue? were we safe? what were we going to do?

Then our leaders beat their war drums.

They vowed to find the perpetrators of this great crime against humanity, wherever they might be. They vowed to bring justice, not only to those behind this attack, but to those who harboured them in their homelands. They vowed to protect us from the wrath of this new enemy, to make our world safe for ourselves, our relatives, our friends, our children.

Then they transformed our grief into fear and loathing.

They gave this enemy a name. They told us this enemy prayed to a different God, a non-white God. They told us this enemy converses in a certain tongue and projects a certain appearance. They told us this enemy dwells among us. They told us this enemy hates our "free" way of living, and is bent on destroying it in favour of their style of theocracy. They told us to be wary of and vigilant against this group of people, for it is our enemy.

Then they started stripping away our rights.

They told us they needed to keep their eye on us - listen to our telephone conversations, read through our e-mails, log the information we peruse - for our own safety and "security". They told us our dearest friends could be carrying explosives in their schoolbags, poised to detonate them on the subway train or in study hall. They told us our neighbours - those who fit the vague physical description of the "enemy", at least - could be sending information to their enemy friends and family "over there", information to be used to maim or kill us.

They gave us a choice: either we were with them, or with the enemy.

And on that note, they went to war. First, to Afghanistan, where the supposed mastermind of this calamity, this tragedy brought upon you and me, lay in wait; then, a year and a half later, to Iraq, where an old mortal enemy, supposedly colluding with the aforementioned mastermind, was producing weapons aimed at us, to be used against us at any given moment, and thus needed to be eliminated. They told us these were the prime fronts in our "War on Terror". They told us the world would be safer only if we bombed these nations to the stone age, for it was the only way to rid the world of this vast danger facing us. They told us these perpetrators would be brought to justice, and that the citizens of these nations would greet us as "liberators". They told us we were giving them the gift of "democracy", and that, with this gift from us, they would flourish, like us, and enjoy the "freedoms" we enjoy here.

Six years have passed since that fateful day. The mastermind, confined to a small region, surrounded by our heavy artillery, has yet to be found, nor does he concern our leaders anymore, though he continues to taunt us through videos released at seemingly convenient times. His supposed accomplice, the terrorizing tyrant of the land of Iraq, whom we hanged to ring in the new Year of our Lord 2007, we learned him not to be affiliated with this mastermind at all; these weapons he had: a myth. "Democracy" isn't working so well in Afghanistan, as we continue to be mired in battle; nor is it working so well in Iraq, as the state of living there is nothing short of chaotic. Hundreds of thousands of lives ended violently as a result of the actions of our leaders. The cities of Bali, Madrid, London, Cairo and Algiers, to name a few, have been attacked, and scores of people, like you and me, have died and suffered. The state of Israel is continuing its ongoing hostility against its Muslim neighbours. The "enemy" is multiplying in droves, fueled by the hatred towards those who wrought death and despair onto its people. The world is more hostile than it was before the eleventh day of September 2001...

...yet all seems to be normal here, in the campus computer lab in which I write this. Friends are conversing casually with one another, sending e-mails back and forth, viewing their favourite videos on YouTube, and keeping tabs on their friends through their facebook accounts. As I walk outside from class to class, I see students doing the same, or congregating in their cliques to pass the time away. The primary concerns here seem to be procuring textbooks for the semester, or finding the right lecture hall, or keeping up with their readings, or making arrangement for the party on the weekend. "9/11", as the event in question has been so appropriately dubbed, is but a mere afterthought, a conversation piece, nothing more.

No one seems to be thinking about what happened six years ago today; as far as our leaders are concerned, it's best to keep it that way.

So long as we pay attention to ourselves and only ourselves, we will not be compelled to ask questions such as, "How did a commercial jet manage to slam into the Pentagon with unusually localized damage and no eyewitness account?", or, "If fifteen of the nineteen hijackers were Saudi nationals, why are we not doing anything in Saudi Arabia?", or, "Why haven't we found this 'bin Laden' after six years?", or, "Why do we see these videos from this 'bin Laden' when it's time to choose our next President, or just before the eleventh of September?", though why ask "why", when we can continue to live in our own comfort? Why worry, when we can drink ourselves silly and pick the next American Idol? Why bother, when we can turn on our television sets and feel our cares magically melt away? Why think, when our trusted leaders and media outlets can do that for us?

Are you prepared to find out "why"? For the sake of your own sanity, your very survival, start asking, because the answer they're giving you is a far cry from the answer that is. Once you start asking, you'll see how quickly our leaders barricade you from the answers you seek, but fear not, for lies always come back to bite the liars who delivered them, and the purity and love of the people will triumph over the tyranny and fearmongering of the elite.

Stop knowing what you've been told and start seeing what is.

May love be your guide, and peace be upon you.