The Day the Towers Came Down

 

by Pa Rock

The purpose of terrorism is to stoke fear and hate and cause division.  When they accomplish that, the terrorists have won.

September 11, 2001, was one of those monstrous moments in history when most people, if they were old enough at the time, can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing because of what was happening in the world at that exact time.  It was on the  morning of that day. - exactly 25 years ago today - when 19 young men, mostly citizens of Saudi Arabia and all members of the militant group, al-Qaeda, hijacked four US passenger planes and brought the full force of global terrorism down on the United States of America.

I was fifty-three-years-old at that time and commuting once a week from my home in very rural Noel, Missouri, to the University of Missouri campus in Columbia where I was working on a doctorate in social work, a degree which I subsequently never finished.  In pursuit of that degree I would work each Monday at my job with the state of Missouri and based in McDonald County, the southwestern corner county of the state, and then drive 270 miles to Columbia on Monday evenings, spend the night in a cheap motel, and attend two classes on  Tuesday before making the long commute home again Tuesday evening and going to work on Wednesday.  It was a grueling routine.

Columbia, being home to the main campus of the University of Missouri, was, and still is, a very progressive and open community, very dissimilar to the conservative part of the state where I lived and worked, and Columbia was, and, I am sure still is, open to many viewpoints religions, and cultures.   Muslim students knew they were welcome to attend and be a part of the campus scene.  There was a small, very ornate mosque close to campus with minarets where Muslims could go for their daily prayers, and a popular Middle Eastern restaurant on Ninth Street, the main student thoroughfare, that was called "Osama's," which turned out to have been a very unfortunate choice for a business name.

Ironically, my classes were in a set of twin towers - each around nine stories tall - that were called Lewis Hall and Clark Hall, with my classes being in the social work complex which was on the 7th floor of Clark - I think. Other than possibly some dorms, Lewis and Clark were the two tallest buildings on campus at that time.

That awful morning (the weather was actually clear and nice) I was sitting in a small classroom staring out the window and across campus and waiting onl class to start when a fellow student walked in and told us about the plane striking the first tower.  When it started to become clear as to what was happening, a couple of televisions were rolled into the hallways and classes were dismissed so students could watch the events as they unfolded.   There was discussion among the students and professors about the prejudices and animosities that were certain to be unleashed against their Muslim friends because of the day's events, and ways in which social workers could work to lessen those feelings and acts of intolerance.   We were in the midst of a "teachable moment."

That afternoon as I prepared to leave Columbia for the long drive home, I telephoned my boss in McDonald County to get a read on the situation there.  She said local gas stations were raising prices while people were pumping gas, and that if I saw any open stations on the way home I should stop and top off my tank.   Lines were long everywhere, but somewhere around the Lake of the Ozarks I spotted a station that only had a dozen or so cars waiting at the pumps.  I sat in line there for thirty minutes and then topped my tank off with two gallons - easily enough to make it on home.

In retrospect, I am glad that I happened to be on a major university campus when the terror was unleashed.  The setting provided me with a wider perspective on what was occurring.   There were (and still are) millions of Muslims in the world who were (and still are) very good people and had nothing to do with the despicable actions of al-Qaeda and the terrorists who hijacked the planes that morning.  If the family of man was going to survive, its members had to lock arms and stand together.

Terrorists are dangerous people and must be dealt with - but only a very small number of people are bonafide terrorists, and everyone else is just struggling to survive - people like you and me - and we must learn to live together and work together in peace, and harmony, and cooperation.  That is the true antidote to terrorism.

If terrorists cannot divide us, they will not conquer us.