Ten years later and still so many to love

Ten years ago today, on September 11, 2001,  I watched my family and friends, suffer an anguish I would not have wished on my enemy, and I felt helpless.  Everyone around me was hurting.  Some were helplessly sobbing.  Some were about to cry and scream in pain.  Some were standing alone, as if they were placed in a desert Island.  Some were hugging and holding each other, and some had turned to stone.  They needed  someone to give them the reason, someone to explain, and when that was not possible, needed someone to apologize. 

I was there and I knew how they felt, and I apologized.  Over and over again, with all my heart, I apologized.  They would ask me, “Why do you apologize?  You had nothing to do with it.”  And I would say to them, “I felt this fire that you feel when I was hurt by the anger of man so long ago.  The only difference is that I have lived with that pain for twenty years, and I have learned one thing in my years--that the fire I had carried within me for twenty years would have died long ago if only someone, anyone, had apologized to me.  These people need someone to say I am sorry.  How can I not apologize?”

Thirty years ago I was a young man of 25 and at the peak of my prime when the impossible happened.  Iran took America hostage, and with that, America became angry.  Overnight I changed from Iranian to Persian (as apparently did so many other Iranians) to hide my nationality, and I felt fear for the first time since I had left Iran.  I had to make a choice between hiding in fear or facing my fears and facing the world.  I chose the latter.

One night I was at a disco/bar when a young man decided to pick a fight with me, and it seemed as if there would be no stopping him.  His friends huddled around him and all eagerly awaited to watch their hero kick the Arab’s ass.  I decided that it wasn’t exactly the right time for me, to correct them that I was an Iranian… err, Persian.  I asked him, “Please, before you beat me up, can I ask you a question?”  He said, “What?”  I said, “Are you going to beat me up because I have done something wrong to you, or are you pissed because I remind you of someone else?”  He said, “Uh, what’s your point?”  I said, “Well, if you are not personally pissed with me, how about if I buy you a beer, and we can talk.  If after your beer you still want to beat me up, then go ahead.  what have you lost? Besides, you will get a free beer out of it!”  So he let me buy him a beer, and we talked.  Guess what happened after he finished his beer?  He bought the next round and we parted as friends.

In my 55 years of life, I have learned that friendship and kindness can break down barriers; which hate only strengthens.  After 911, I promised to dedicate my life to loving ten people for every one person who was hurt in that hurtful day.  Sadly I will not live long enough to apologize and love that many people, but in the end, only death will stop me. 

My friend, for as long and as often as you allow me to write to you, I will tell you how beautiful and precious you are.  And if you are still waiting for someone to apologize, then please allow me to be that someone to you.  Let me apologize, on behalf of the millions upon millions of others like me who wish you happiness and healing.

Now it is time for you to heal, not only for yourself but for the sake of all the people you may be able to help.  For the past ten years, you, America, have seen what anger and hate can do to a nation.  Now is not the time for us to argue and debate over what went wrong.  God willing, when we are all in safety, we will have the luxury of debating issues. But not now. Now is time to try something else; something new.  Now it is time for us to try peace.  If two of us can see beyond our differences and make peace with each other, why can't more of us?  Give peace a try.  Who knows, you may like it.  If nothing else, you will get a good night sleep out of it.

If you feel that this letter can benefit someone you know, please share it with them.  They are the ones I need to reach out to, and they are the ones I need to love.

And in case you haven't heard it lately, God loves you.