The Daily Bruin collected student submissions to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. We asked students to tell us in 400 words how the events of 9/11 have defined a generation of college students. The following is a submission from first-year physiological science student Sanna Alas.

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O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?

How easy it is for things to fall apart, to succumb to chaos. As I looked around my third grade class, all I saw was confusion. We did not understand. All we could gather was the fear in the faces of our teachers, parents, news reporters – and this is what we could trust. As we saw the fall of the towers played over and over again, we learned to hate and fear those bearded men who dared cause such devastation. And we also learned that the only way to defend our country against such evil people was to wage war on our attackers. The war on terrorism had begun.

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

I think this as I stand at attention with the rest of my class. And like countless before me, I wait for the moment of silence. But alas, silence can only be kept for so long. I came to realize that in those many moments of silence there were thoughts, which eventually flowed out in a deluge of fearful, stinging words and actions. Do you know that you are advocating terrorism? How could you support murderers? Do you hate America? These are the questions I was asked. No, just because I am Muslim does not mean I hate America. America is my home.

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

I could not help but wonder if a home really was a home if no one else thinks you belong. On the day of Sept. 11, I learned pain. That stubborn blindness which many clung to over the years was the result of a painful ignorance, of living in a world in which evil people and evil doings went unpunished. America was a wounded nation. Nevertheless, I learned courage. As time passed, we rose from the ashes of chaos and opened our eyes to a world where ignorance and pain are but lessons to be learned from. This is Sept. 11.

O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

-Sanna Alas

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Every time I’m in a high-rise building, in an airport and especially on an airplane, I think about the horrific tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001.

For the past decade, every time I have been in the public sphere when the horrendous event of 9/11 was brought to topic, I have found myself the center of stares, disapproving looks, and waited upon for an apology or some explanation of what happened that day.

I am an American Muslim woman; I was born and raised in California, I’m a passionate advocate for social justice, I wear the hijab (head covering), I live and love being an American Muslim.

Yet I am just as afraid, if not more so, of crazy individuals who have no sense of human dignity and are ready to rip apart the lives of vibrant beings. I am also constantly held responsible, at times attacked, by my fellow Americas. For the past decade, my post-9/11 experience has been one of explanations, presentations, discussions and defense of my religion and of my role as an American Muslim.

This is not about religion; we, as a nation, were attacked together. The smaller American Muslim community still experiences the effect of those attacks on almost a daily basis; from being spit on to experiencing violence, we feel the wounds of 9/11 regularly.

However, the greatest wound is one that attacks will not bring back; the lives of souls who died mercilessly. For that, we need to live for them and move beyond division within our country; for that, we need to leave a legacy.

In the memory of our mothers and fathers, our siblings and children, our friends and peers whose precious lives were taken on that day, let us take it upon ourselves to dedicate our lives for working to benefit our society through social, educational and civic work. We can continue the legacy of those who passed by replacing our hours on Facebook with hours feeding the homeless, our hours chillin’ and drinking with hours of mentoring underprivileged youth, our hours watching reruns with hours committed to taking care of our elderly.

If those whose lives we continue to mourn were here, with us today, what would they tell us? How would they live their lives? Would they not tell us to move beyond division and blame? Would they not tell us to focus our energy on being committed to enhancing the lives of those around us?

We can continue their legacies. Let us unite and give back, hoping that with every day, the spirits which were so violently ripped apart from our world will continue to live through our acts of kindness, in service of their memory.

-Maryam Amirebrahimi, graduate student in education