On This Day.

It's been 10 years today since the world changed. The world changed and I'm part of the generation that has grown up in a distrustful, hateful, society. I've been taught to fear the 'others.' I've been taught to judge a person on their dress, on their religion, on their skin colour.

I talk to my students, some of whom were only 3 years old on 9/11. I look at my sister's students, who weren't even born when the world changed. They have grown up knowing nothing but the culture of fear and the backlash against those who are 'different' than themselves. I have Muslim students talk about the troubles they face at airports, dozens of teenagers who can't remember what life was like before the manhunts began for Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Well, now they are both gone, and has their legacy faltered? No, it's stronger than it ever was before.

Where has this 'war on terror' left the world? Has America defended the ideas of civil liberties, democracy, freedom and safety in the countries they invaded in hopes of 'saving' from their oppressors?

Each generation is given a new target, a new enemy to fear and to hate. Will there ever be a generation without a war, without the threat of an invisible enemy lurking in the shadow's, ready to destroy all that is good in the world? I remember where I was the moment the world changed. Hearing the news and not quite believing and definitely not understanding the impact that it would have. I watched the first coverage on the news as Iraq was invaded, I listened to the propaganda of a world-class idiot, left to run the world's most powerful nation, and I wondered how or if it would end.

Saddam Hussein is dead, Bin Laden is dead. Yet it doesn't take a genius to know that it doesn't matter if they lived or died. Their legacy, those loyal to them both, would still carry on. And so, because of this, the war still rages. I had friends deployed overseas and, for months on end, would hate reading the headlines about dead soldiers, fearing that they would be among them. I try to understand their drive, their passion for their job, and I am worried by the racism and prejudice that I hear. I know I don't understand what it is like--I will never understand and will never appreciate the realities of living in a combat zone. But should our soldiers be trained to hate? Is it right to teach them to hate all of the 'others' that are 'over there' and see them all as one in the same? I mean no offence to anyone reading this. I fully support the bravery of those willing to sacrifice themselves in the line of duty. It is the war, the unjust and illegal war, that I do not support.

What will happen in the world from now on? Will our advancements in technology finally bring about the peace and liberties for all? Definitely not. I believe that it will be used for more weapons of destruction, weapons of terror and death. Human beings are fragile things. But the cruelty and evil in mankind is one of the strongest forces in the world.

Will there ever be a generation that is brought into the world and not force-fed the prejudices, the fears and hates of their predecessors? It is a cruel thing, to teach the innocent that they ought to fear 'them' and create this constant state of fear and mistrust. My thoughts this morning are on those missing loved ones, on those still fighting in this war, and on the generations to come who will be drafted into this war without a choice. Whether it be 'them' or 'us', I dislike thinking about all of the hatred that will be driven into the minds and hearts of those who will grow up in a world knowing no other way.

It is 10 years ago on this day that the world changed and, in a single morning, history was changed forevermore.