Remembering 9/11

Sitting here with my husband we began to talk about where we were on 9/11...here is my story.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - I was in a small town called El Centro, I worked at that time as an outreach employee with Costco Wholesale. We had gone to El Centro to work in an elementary school teaching young students to read. Niland, the town (maybe too big of a word) is another 30 minutes outside of El Centro and the students came from even farther out - Slab City.

Many of these children lived in terrible conditions, filthy with lice, parents who were abusive and neglectful. These parents were typically more concerned about their meth cooking than their children, often looking at them as their monthly pay check.

I was 23, I had never seen such poverty. This became my first look at the amazing power of humanity to laugh and smile in the midst of such adversity. They would ultimately teach me so much about the power of love and imagination.

These students would show up each morning with a smile, a hug and work incredibly hard to unlock the magical world of words.

It was during this first week that I woke up to phones ringing in my hotel room....TURN ON THE NEWS, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK....

I was as devastated as the rest of America, I was also scared, incredibly so!!! I called my parents and they supported my decision to stay or come home...like the rest of America we made a concerted effort to remind the other: "I LOVE YOU".

I had flown from Portland to LA, and then took a VERY, VERY small plane (12 seats) to El Centro. I was a bit concerned with how I was to get home, was I going to go home?

I then thought about how far these kids had come, some already jumping a grade level in reading, others were realizing themselves and seeing their confidence grow... so I stayed.

During the morning lesson, I like many of my colleagues were wondering what was going on, taking shifts and watching the news. The students, knowing that something was the matter, began to ask questions. Believe it or not, this is where I met my biggest surprise...

They had no idea where New York was, what the Twin Towers were and why people were so upset. They did however understand that us being there to teach them may come to a halt well before the scheduled end date, and this upset them.

It was here, where I finally understood the meaning of our common humanity, struggling with this immense tragedy within our country, and also the bewilderment of these faces staring back at me, hoping that I too wouldn't let them down.

Wondering if they were worth my attention, I have never regretted my decision to stay. I learned so much about the power of listening, the power of empowerment, the power of hope and the promise of a future. These kids will forever be with me, I think about them regularly and know that without them my life would not be what it is.

The end of these weeks were the saddest I have experienced; there was the emotional baggage that was carried around inside of me not only from 9/11, but the first glimpse of the injustice that occurs in this world.

The senseless attacks on us as a nation and all the attacks; physical, emotional and intellectually that these strong and mighty children faced daily. I am proud to say that I went there to teach and yet I became the student, they taught me about perseverance and the saving grace of laughter.

That we are all together and can learn and listen, how different would the world look if we just listened to the wisdom of children and gave empathy to those who just want you to look, stay and continually ask "am I worth it?"

Alysha Atma spends many hours working on projects that support and benefit the belegured people of African nations who spend way too much time off the western media radar. This writer explains that she is a culmination of all her experiences, most importantly knowledge she says, and all that she still needs to learn; lessons of love, laughter and the extraordinary giving of both young and old. She says she has the enormous fortune of learning from the best; every person around her, and the amazing strength and fortitude of those she has never met but will always strive to listen to. "I continue to work and write because I believe in the power of community and the power of one, both contradictory to each other and yet can move together in a very powerful way. I feel a responsibility to use my place, freedoms and connections here in the US to stand up and yell for those who need my voice and actions. I have seen such strength in my fellow humans that I cannot even begin to comprehend, they have traveled distances, have gone without food, water, shelter and safety for days and weeks at a time. I have a responsibility as a fellow human to put our common humanity before anything else. Everyone deserves to look towards tomorrow, to dream of a safe future and to have a peaceful present." You can write to Alysha Atma at: alyshann78@comcast.net