9/11 changes or reinforces deeply held beliefs

Name: Steve Abbed
Age: 43
Hometown: Reno, Nevada

I'm a Palestinian-American working in a Christian ministry in Gaza.

When 9/11 happened, I was in Jerusalem's Old City on the way to church. I didn't know what happened until I went to an internet cafe after church and read, "Twin Towers Collapse." I was shocked and devastated. I felt for sure, "I am an American."

All the pride and love I ever felt for America, I felt at that moment. I didn't care about foreign or domestic policies. It infuriated me that some of my Palestinian brothers and sisters danced on the graves of the 9/11 victims. I found that my identity is American, whatever else it may be.

America, I know, is a good country that God has blessed to be a blessing in a tumultuous world. It makes mistakes sometimes but its heart is good and that makes me proud to be American.

As a Palestinian, I sometimes feel "bi-polar" because of my two identities -- "Palestinian" and "American" -- but that only happens when others try to force me to have to choose loyalties. I didn't ask for this contradiction but I am more than comfortable with it.

What 9/11 assured me of as I struggled through this painful self-discovery is that I am an American. If anyone hurts America, they hurt me. If America wins, I win. If America loses, I lose.

***

Name: Alicia Hicks
Age: 40
Hometown: Alexandria, Ala.

So ironic I found this [nvitation to write to MSNBC.com] because I was just recently going through my mind thinking of the many changes I have experienced since 9/11.

I have become a racist, cynical, lost all respect for authority, lost direction for my daughter. I developed a sadness for all those younger than me, LOST HOPE for our future, became a very impatient, angry person.

I feel that our youth today get away with so much more and I feel we are raising an "entitled and selfish" generation because of the doomed future we saw as we watched the events of 9/11.

Why should we raise our children to "not have sex", "don't be lazy and sleep in", get a job... why???? Is there going to be great joy in putting these things off for YOUR FUTURE when no one has a clue as to what our future holds???

I know to put "all things in Christ" and, believe me, I would never tell my daughter these things, but I know every decision I have made since 9/11 is overshadowed by the fact of a very uncertain future that awoke me on that terrible Tuesday.

The only prayer I have for the future is that the youth of today will become more informed, compassionate, and aware of how to change the situations they can control through elections and banding together.

For what it's worth 9/11 hurt me horribly. I am 40 years old and a white, educated female living in Alabama.

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