Remembering 9/11

           12 years ago this day was one of the most saddest and horrific day in the United States of America history. The 9/11 September 11th attack took the lives of thousands of people and left many in great wounds of devastation and trauma. At the time of the attack, I was in math class clueless of what is going on as many of my classmates started to leave class early. By the end of the day, I was the only student remained in the classroom. As I walked out of school, the parking lot of the school was empty like it was a deserted island. As I enter my father's car, he stated to me that there was an attack in New York City, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon.

         12 years later, I want to take the moment to thank the United States of America for giving me the great opportunity to achieve the impossible. This country had blessed me with the freedom to live my life with safety and security. The great opportunities continued for me as I was the first one to graduate from college. With achieving a great education, I am able to be part of the workforce as a Behavioral Counselor with at-risk youth.

          The most important part of this day is to remember this people who lost those lives. Many have lost their lives in the attack. We must remember the individuals who were inside of those buildings and as well as the victims who attempted to help them from firefighters, police officers, and as well as bystanders. We must also pray for their family and as well as the survivors of this unforgettable day.

          We must take the time and remember this day as a day of remembrance rather than focusing on who is responsible for this event. This attack took place and many want to debate who is responsible for it whether the al-Qaida or was it a governmental set-up. Within those years we have focused and we continue to focus on who did it and how it was done. We continue to keep our attention to a minimum on the survivors or the family of the victims. These families are going through trauma of dealing with the lost of their loved one. We must also support the victims by focusing on offering them treatment such medical treatments and counseling.

           9/11 is a day that will always be remembered in United States history. This great country has given us great opportunities to achieve great things such as education and work. We must keep maximize our focus on the victims and less on who is responsible for the attack.

Who are the faces of Erie.

With a population of little over 100,000, Erie is the home to Whites, African-Americans, and Hispanics. However, the population is rapidly growing with immigrants and refugees from many other nations. Immigrant is defined as individuals who choose to abroad their home country and live in another. Refugee is defined as a person who is forced to leave their home country due to war or persecution.

Today, Erie has become a safe haven for refugees and immigrants from many other countries. Erie is the home to refuges from Iraq, Nepal, Somalia, Sudan and many other countries. Erie and its local universities have also gained many immigrants and students from numerous Gulf Countries of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

Many of these refugees have fled their homeland to secure safety in other countries. These refugees lived in countries that were home to the largest refugee camps in the world where food and health was limited but life was much better.  After many years, the United States of America and numerous westerns countries have accepted these refugees to give them the opportunity to start a new life but with consequences.  The United States accepts these refugees to struggling cities but those cities have the potential to improve.

One of the struggling cities that I will be discussing is my current home town of Erie, PA. I will not be talking about the economy rather I will be talking about how Erie can gain from the diverse people in this city. We have seen a great presentation of cultures but those cultures seem to be forgotten not by its people but rather by our local government. I remember when my cultural geography professor stated to our class that, “Canada honors other cultures by implementing a program in the schools where it allows people from diverse background to stay connected from where they came from.”  Erie and it is local governments including police departments, outreach departments, or councilmen have done minimum recruitments to gain people from such great cultures. The local police department has yet to reach out to individuals to represent those countries with majority of the police officers coming from small town boroughs that have minimum knowledge of cross-cultural.  Erie needs to do more in bringing people together such as having a cultural sharing day at least once a month where  incoming refugees can be introduced to the Erie community and showing them what Erie has to offer for them from jobs, attractions, to its political system.

With the great diversity of the people from many nations in the Erie region, we must do more to honor these cultures by bringing them together and honor what they have to bring to the local region from their homeland. As more and more refugees are coming, the local government must do more to keep these individuals in the Erie region.  They can do this by keeping their cultures alive by implementing a program in the local schools to honor their culture or a cultural day where refugees are introduced to the city.

Turkey's dream

                As president Obama pleads his case to congress and his European allies to attack Syria, Turkey can benefit from this by joining the rally to attack Syria. Turkey is a strong Allie of the United States in that region with hosting to US military and as well as hosting the largest refugee camp to Syrian’s refugees. Turkey has long been fighting to join its Western Allies in the European Union but that dream is yet to come true due to its cheap labor and its conflict with Greece.  Turkey must resolve its conflict with Greece over the disputed Cyprus. Turkey can put this dream into reality by joining the Allies of attacking Syria, improving the labor, and as well as resolving its issues with neighboring  country of Greece.