December 7, 1941 was the day that President Roosevelt said would live on in infamy. That was the first time that the United States ever experienced a terrorist attack. It was at the hands of the Japanese and in our anger and want to end their tyranny in Asia, we joined in the fight against them in World War II. The Japanese quest for “Asia for the Asians” was going to come to an end because of what they did to us.. It was a war that dragged on for years and had every White Man looking at his Asian American neighbors with distrust and disgust for a very long time.
We hunted the perpetrators down and brought them to justice. We made Japan surrender and apologize for their war atrocities by dropping the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We destroyed their country and killed their people regardless of their innocence or guilt in the war.
After we had exacted our revenge upon them and brought the masterminds of the war to justice, we went back to Japan and made amends for the atrocities of war. We helped them rebuild their nation, tend to the victims of the war, and showed them that Americans were a tender, caring, and forgiving race. We rebuilt our relationship with the country and its people and now, 70 years or so after the war that almost wiped their country off the international map, we have highly friendly and cooperative international relations with the country that we once destroyed.
60 years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese invaders, on September 11, 2001, our country was once again revisited by the horrors of a triple terrorist attack, the crashing of 2 domestic flight planes into the World Trade Center Twin Towers and the crashing of another plane into the Pentagon. Once again our peaceful nation had forced into a war that we wanted nothing to do with. All because of Muslim extremists whose reasons for attacking our nation remain unclear to me until this very day.
Our war on terror has brought out the ugly side of Americans as we once again view our Muslim American neighbors with distrust and anger, failing to differentiate between those who are our friends and who are radical terrorists. It is that fear that has gripped our country and we have not chosen to let it go even though we have already hunted down and killed Usama Bin Laden, the perpetrator of the 9/11 attacks.
We attacked and destroyed Muslim nations such as Afghanistan and Iraq. We have released their people from tyranny and dictatorships and helped them rebuild their nations. Once again, America has shown that we are a compassionate country that only strikes once it is hurt. As the saying goes, “Don’t wake the sleeping dragon.”
Think about it. We have finally exacted revenge upon the very person whose idea it was to bring discord and paranoia to our country. Usama Bin Laden is dead. America has triumphed once again. Our great nation has proven that once we are seriously injured as a nation, that bully will never get away from us until he has paid for his crimes against us and the other nations as well.
However, the sense of healing in modern times seems to be lost in the new generation. Whereas we found it within ourselves to slowly overcome our distrust and hatred for the Japanese during World War II, we seem to be unable to get past the hurt and betrayal that we felt after the 9/11 attacks. Until we can start to let go of these negative feelings, Usama Bin Laden and his like will continue to brag about having succeeded in destroying America as an international leader and harbinger of world peace.
That healing can start with the building of the Park51 building near Ground Zero. I truly believe that the healing of our international relationship with our Muslim brothers can start there, 2 blocks from where the atrocity first began. I know that you probably think I am crazy for saying that but you have to hear me out first. We have been sold a bag of lies by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer of Stop The Islamization of America.
They have chosen to concentrate on the fact that an area for Muslim worship would be designated in the building that would actually house commercial and recreational facilities such as a performing arts center, gym, swimming pool, culinary school, food court, and more importantly, a memorial to the victims of 9/11. Park 51 is actually being envisioned as a middle ground for everyone. By having a 9/11 shrine in the building alone we can see that there is an air of repentance in the construction of the building. Park51 is not a Muslim mosque. It is a community center.
America has always been known as the land of the free. Where one is allowed to openly practice his beliefs and uphold his rights to respect his heritage. That is what makes the extremists hate us as a nation. It is also the weapon by which we can beat them. By allowing the Park 51 Center to rise a mere 2 blocks away from the former Twin Towers, we will have shown them that we are ready to move on. We have gotten over our anger, we have won. Now, we are ready to rebuild the trust and international relationship that was almost destroyed by the 9/11 attacks.
Don’t you think it is time to move on? Let’s embrace our Muslim brothers by respecting their heritage. Allow the worship area to be a part of Park51, it might help us gain a better understanding of their traditions and beliefs so that we can finally win over those who fear us and believe in the extreme terrorist ways.