Some folks use twin-towers and 9/11 imagery to promote anti-Muslim bigotry and "clash of civilizations" rhetoric. I want none of it.
I remember my Turkish roommate from college. His daily prayers were unobtrusive, but I never quite figured out how to handle them. I just gave him space and let him do his thing. No harm, no foul, and my Christian family and TX neighbors were much more aggressive about pushing their religion.
I remember the first person I ever dated, a Moroccan woman who is now a college professor and who would probably be shocked and uncomfortable if I ever tried to make contact again.
I remember seeing a Sikh man sitting alone and nervous on a crowded subway train as DC emptied that September morning. Already rumors were swirling that "Allahu Akbar" had been shouted from the cockpit as the planes crashed into the World Trade Center. Sikhs aren't Muslim, but US ignorance often groups them with their traditional rivals.
I remember staring into the sky a few days later, marveling at the lack of jet contrails.
I remember other Muslim friends from grad school and from work. I've never had many, it's true, but I've had a few, and none of them deserve to be associated with the violence of 9/11.
I remember the rush to war in Afghanistan, and in Iraq, insistence that we would remake those countries in our image, that war was painless, and that only "bad guys" had anything to fear from the US military. I remember seemingly endless reports of civilian casualties, interviews with civilians whose homes and cattle had been riddled by US bullets, or who had lost family members when US military contractors had opened fire in a crowded intersection.
I remember being frustrated and angered by reports of torture by the US CIA & military, and by the killing of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. The victims might indeed be "the worst of the worst", but we shouldn't be setting our moral standards by saying only that we're better than the worst humanity has to offer. The purpose of public trials, and the purpose of showing mercy to an enemy is to _prove_ that we are stronger than them, that we have important moral codes, and that we will ally strength & power with honesty & justice, *not* with rumors & short-sighted political expedience.
I remember the ex-President's vocal insistence on a "total and complete ban on Muslims entering the United States" that snarled US airports and blocked the entry of translators and local contacts who aided us in Iraq, in Syria, and in Afghanistan.
I remember worrying that my company's new crop of interns (one Pakistani and three from India) would start arguing about Kashmir. Instead they became friends.
I remember efforts to protect US allies as we withdrew from Afghanistan, and I remember folks who claimed both that we shouldn't have allowed them harm, and that we shouldn't allow them to enter the US.
I want the US to live up to its own rhetoric, to set itself high standards for fairness, to preserve the First Amendment's freedom of religion. I want the US military to act with honor. I want to understand others’ skepticism about US intentions.
I want our country to adhere to "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". I want public policy to reflect "Love your neighbor as yourself", the parable of the Good Samaritan, and "whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me". Charity, forgiveness and hospitality are core themes of the Gospels, but too many of the people saying "This is a Christian nation with Christian values" seem to have forgotten them... They seem to have likewise forgotten that these are values associated with many religions and cultures: charity and hospitality, support of people from other places, and openness to dialog with those of other religions.
September 11, 2001 happened. It was a tragedy. It was a horrendous crime, and people deserved to be held accountable for it. People should mourn - but we also need to recognize that we, as a nation, have made mistakes, and that we will always look better in our own eyes than we do in others'. I wish 9/11 hadn't happened. I wish our response to it had been less rushed, more nuanced, and less willing to accept collateral damage.
But this is where we are.