My dream for September 11th

I had just begun my semester abroad in London a week earlier. I was excited to be in a new city, making new international friends and interning for the BBC. On September 11th, at around 2pm, as our class began our teacher announced to us that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We were surprised, thinking that it was a horrible accident but decided to continue on with our lesson.
When class finished, the secretary at the entrance to the building had breaking-news photos on her computer screen. “A second plane hit the other tower,” she said. My heart beating, I ran home turning on the television unable to believe what had happened.


A few days later I wrote in my journal:

The world has changed, it will never be the same again. I can not go back to New York and be the same. I cannot go back and live the same life I did… …I have always wanted to change the world. I want to make films that ask people to examine their lives, ask them if they are really doing what they want, if they are living their dreams. My life seems so trivial. It’s like what can I do? How can I keep on doing the same things that I’ve always done?


It has now been five years since that event. After returning to New York, I kept on asking myself, What can I do? what can I do? When I look back on that day, I realized how much it not only changed the world but change me as well. I wouldn’t be who I am today, someone committed to creating peace in the world.

I just recently discovered that on September 11th, 1906, Gandhi began the Satyagraha non-violent movement. So as we remember the 5th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, we can also commemorate one of the greatest achievements of the world-- the power of his movement to change the world and the hearts of man through non-violent direct action. Perhaps as he made his commitment 100 years ago, we can make our own commitment to ourselves today.

So what is my dream for September 11th? It’s my dream that it becomes a day of peace. So as we remember the tragedy of five years ago and say prayers for the lives lost, we can also see it as a call for peace. Not a call for war. Not call for revenge, but a call of people from around the world for peace.

Each of us can contribute to peace today and every day. Pray for peace, meditate for peace, talk about peace, join a peace activism group, or watch the film Gandhi.
Gandhi probably had little idea of how far his satyagraha movement would go, so you never know how far the commitment we make to peace will go either.