Silence on 9/11

I do believe we have an explanation. In response to the comment left by Osman on my 9/11 post:

I am just confused about the silence on 9-11? Do we only observe silence and recognize the blood of innocent Americans? I know thousands of massacres and tragic events have occcurred on other days, so why should we ignore those events?

Zahra did respond and you can see her original post and also read mine regarding 9/11. This provides an oppurtunity to speak about what 9/11 means for other peoples and not just Americans:

• 1973 Coup d'État in Chile is referred to as "El 11 de Septiembre" or "El once" ("September 11" or "The eleventh" in Spanish) as shorthand for events backed by the CIA- a coup headed by General Augusto Pinochet topples the democratically elected President Salvador Allende[1]. Pinochet remains in power for almost 17 years with the disappearance and deaths of thousands of Peruvians.
• 1982 - The international forces, which were guaranteeing the safety of Palestinian refugees following Israel's 1982 Invasion of Lebanon, left Beirut. Five days later, several thousand refugees were massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
• 1944 - World War II: RAF bombing raid on Darmstadt and the following firestorm kill 11,500.
• 1943 - World War II: start of the liquidation of the Ghettos in Minsk and Lida by the Nazis.
• 1922 - The British Mandate of Palestine begins.
• 1919 - U.S. Marines invade Honduras.
• 1857 - The Mountain Meadows Massacre: Mormon settlers and Paiutes massacre 120 pioneers at Mountain Meadows, Utah.

These events by far do not cover the many "atrocities" or "wars" or violent actions (acts of terrorism by individuals, groups or governments) or "nakabah's" that have occurred on September 11 of any given year.

However, for Americans, for me- September 11 is a significant day for my personal development and perception. It affects me more so then the other September 11th. It is not that they are less or insignificant, rather its how it affects me.

Your thinking, "what these other incidents are not comparable to September 11?" I would say no they are not because they affect me in a different way. For instance, other incidents are morally, socially repugnant and wrong. I am affected by them because my inner being tells me that they are unjust, unnecessary or a drastic waste of human life and each thing is a case by case situation of coarse, here I am generalizing.

September 11th, however, is an event where my world was rocked- it not only was morally and religious wrong. I was faced with a new reality of trying to make sense of things I had not confronted. My religion was "hijacked" by people who said they represented Islam. I was being told that this is what Islam is. What was worse was that Islam was being used to kill and destroy.

You can read more on how it affected me. However, I think that as Americans yes, this event does have a special place and significance amongst the halls of atrocities. We just can not lump NY Sept. 11th with all the other things, nor should we dissociate it from other incidents. What I am saying is that it requires our attention because we are innocent when it comes to our governments actions against others- we speak out, we vote, we pray for/against those actions carried out in the name of America. However, we were the victims on September 11th and we do need to respect that. What is critical is also respecting those who lost their lives, because they were innocent and they were killed.

With all that said, the day of silence that was referred in my original post was really addressing the fact that from six very vocal activist, no one posted on September 11, 2007. Hence, for Muslamics it was a day of silence.

I hope that clears things up.