house without windows

Author's name: Nadia Hashemi

They were all galvanized by the events of September 11 and were astonished by the shouts of angry strangers at them in the street in the aftermath of the disaster. His father was delighted by the US decision to invade Afghanistan, even though he had neither the intention nor the hope of returning. “Only fools run into a burning building,” he quipped. When Yousef was a freshman at New York University, the news about Afghanistan was utterly ubiquitous. It was suicide attacks, women victims of violence, and corruption. In his sophomore year, he impulsively enrolled in a human rights class, thinking it was an easy way to boost his grade point average. The second class caught fire. A flood of memories from Afghanistan came flooding back: the bodies of young children working in a blacksmith shop, a young journalist slaughtered with his wife and children, the inhumane conditions in the refugee camps, young girls sold to pay off opium debts, war criminals beyond the reach of the law. How could he turn his back on all this? There were others who couldn't, others who were brave. Others took up the cause of the voiceless. Youssef lived and breathed the American dream that one person could make a difference. He was saturated in student union leaflets and the optimistic rhetoric of university professors. He attended his first protest demonstration and loved chanting with others. Raising his voice. He tasted the flavor of struggle, and liked the anger it stirred within him. Anger is better than fear.