The Power to Choose

When someone flips a coin, it will either land onPentagon, it seems as if many people have come
heads or tails. With other real life experiences,to regard anyone who wears a turban or hijab as
however, the possibilities are boundless and thean automatic terrorist.
end results are not set in stone.After a tragic event in this country, I notice that
A new job can bring a person more wealth ormany of us choose to focus on the ethnic
more stress. A teenager can choose to take thebackground of the culprit rather than what we
drugs someone is offering them or decline. Acan do to better the situation.
death can bring a family closer together orThe way I see it, many of us believe that it was
further apart. In light of the shootings at Virginiathe race of the shooter, car-jacker, robber, or
Tech, America has undergone a terrible eventsuicide bomber that compelled him or her to
but, instead of allowing this horrific massacre tocommit their crime.
bring us together, many people are using thisYour race has nothing to do with how smart you
incident as a launching pad for even more violence.will be, what you can make of yourself in life,
The day after the shootings, I went to to watchwhat your personal flaws are, or what mistakes
news stories about what had happened. I wasyou make, so why do we act like that is the
disgusted to see that a countless amount ofcase? Does it really matter that the Virginia Tech
people had left racist comments about theshooter was South Korean?
shooter, a South Korean man.There seems to be a race among the races.
What the shooter did was terrible, there is noWhen an illegal act or something terrible happens,
doubt about that in my mind, but it puzzled mepeople of all races race to bash the race of the
that, instead of expressing remorse for thewrongdoer.
victims and the families, many people were ableThe results of a tragedy, like the shooting at
only to voice their desire that Asians could driveVirginia Tech, cannot be reversed, but we should
as well as they shoot.strive to make the best of any given situation.
Why do we live in an age where everything hasAmerica has come under attack during events
to be about race? As the daughter of a Yemenisuch as 9/11 and the Virginia Tech shootings but
father, I have experienced the effect of the 9/11why do we have to continually attack each other
bombings on the Arab community first-hand.after?
After the attacks on the twin towers and