Rebecca Davidson: Letters from the home front

The Daily Pennsylvanian, like other newspapers around the country, has received a slew of letters relating to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.ÿToday, one month later, the United States is launching missiles and dropping food on Afghan soil.ÿHere on campus, we regularly hear the call to understand the terrorists' feelings and to strive for peace.

We also hear the demand for all-out war, a call for the "sands of the Middle East to run red," (as one citizen mentioned during a recent interview). This is a more common sentiment once we leave the comfortable bosom of college campuses.

But how do those directly involved feel?ÿWhat if our letters came, not from a mix of ACLUers and College Republicans, but from people who have more of a claim to today's current events?ÿWhat would those people say if they had a medium through which to express their thoughts?...

To the Editor:

I am an Afghan citizen and longtime resident of Kabul, Afghanistan's capital.ÿI just wanted to extend my thanks to the generous people of America for the variety pack of Hamburger Helper, and also for the cans of creamed corn.ÿPlease send can openers with your next drop; I nearly fainted from hunger in my efforts to smash the can open using a sharpened stone.

Also, please do not think we Afghans rude when I say that none of us partook of the Spam -- while I am not entirely sure that the other items in the food drops complied with the dietary laws of halal, I am quite certain that Spam does not. Please try to be more attuned to our needs next time.

Grateful Non-Taliban Citizen

Kabul, Afghanistan

To the Editor:

The only woman in my family able to read and write, I have been asked by my surviving sisters and cousins to send this request.ÿA bit about me: I was widowed during the Soviet occupation, left alone with four children to raise.ÿMy oldest daughter died in childbirth, the second moved to the north with her husband's family, and my youngest daughter was stoned to death by the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice shortly after her 14th birthday, because, they say, her burqa left her ankles exposed. Only my son remains.

Just as the Taliban has destroyed my country's spirit, the American bombs now destroy its cities.ÿWhat are we to be left with?

I ask the United States to grant political asylum to myself, my sisters and the other war widows of Afghanistan.

Alone in Jalalabad

Jalalabad, Afghanistan

To the Editor:

I write from the recesses of one of Afghanistan's deepest caves. Oh, you fearful American infidels!ÿI am well-stocked with the finest cuts of beef, the most voluptuous concubines and CNN's Breaking News e-mail updates.

Never will you weed me out; I have friends who will gather me in their arms at every turn, blessed be to God.

And to you Afghans who have to America gone!ÿYou claim to be pious yet you live in a land devoid of God and His greatness!

For what have you left the land of God? For shame!ÿYour daughters dress immodestly, and you befriend faithless Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists.ÿTheir prophets are false, their gods are dead!ÿI am sent by God to destroy the other and make the land holy for my people.

Blessings on the Taliban, al-Qaeda and curses to the United States, Great Britain, Pakistan, China, Cuba, France, Germany, the Jewish occupants of Palestine and the Philippines.

Palestine be mine, mine! East! West! North! South! Up, down over and out!

Come and Get Me

Recesses of One of Afghanistan's Deepest Caves

To the Editor:

I emigrated to the United States from Syria in 1988, and have been a citizen since. My two children were born here and attend American public schools, and my husband and I vote in American elections.ÿFor the past few weeks, I have not worn my hijab.ÿIt is against my beliefs to leave home with my head exposed, but in light of the way the Muslim community has been perceived in recent times, I have, at least temporarily, abandoned my beliefs in the hope that I will be safe from harassment.

The last time I wore my hijab, I was taunted while waiting on line at the grocery store -- the same grocery store at which I have shopped for the past decade!

I came to America because of the wonderful freedom this country offers its citizens, because of the civil liberties available to its people. I hope this recent outburst of discrimination is merely an aberration, and that in the future I can wear my covering without worrying for my safety.

Loyal American

Miami, Fl.

The following letter is based on reports in Newsday.ÿJohn Moran, a firefighter, was among those who died at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.ÿHis widow Kim is still trying to explain things to her young sons.

To the Editor:

The media's programs, named things like "Explaining the Tragedy to Your Child," have done nothing to address my children's questions regarding "the tragedy."

My four-year-old doesn't ask about bad men in planes, and he doesn't ask about war. He wants to know if putting Daddy on his Christmas list will bring him back.

Kim Moran,

Rockaway Park, N.Y.

Rebecca Davidson is a senior English major from Glen Rock, NJ.

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