It appears the United States is making headway in its war in Afghanistan. Many groups in Afghanistan that once supported the Taliban are now trying to oust the regime. Groups are trying to figure out who will control the country when the dust settles.

I felt the crowd in front of me slow to a stop. A man on a loudspeaker, told us there were “counter-demonstrators” ahead and that we should not let them intimidate us or make us ashamed of our message.

In every cloud, there is a silver lining.” I know how overused and trite this phrase is. But the terrorist attacks Osama bin Laden and the Al-Queda organization committed against shocked all of us enough to cause us to rethink our past assumptions and biases.

While I will not specifically condemn the terrorists for their actions on September 11th, their acts are despicable. I also am not going to specifically salute the volunteers, firemen, policemen and rescue workers who rushed to save lives, though I do feel the utmost pride for them. I do want to give my salutes and condemnations to certain other parts of America for their handling of this tragic and unprecedented event.

The September 11th terrorist attacks may have been an unquestionable atrocity in every American’s mind. A lesser but still important disaster may be the utter indifference toward our country that a certain number of Americans are displaying.

On behalf of the Bhavana Society Monastery and Meditation Center, and the entire Buddhist community in the United States, I am compelled to write this message to express our deepest sympathy and sorrow over the irreparable loss of thousands of lives caused by ruthless terrorist acts.

My ideas, my thoughts, my dreams were all second-guessed as America was attacked by an evil with the intention to kill and rape the American mainland of its innocence. This enemy was unlike the enemies of the past that our fathers battled in the name of the flag - in the name of freedom. It was an enemy that “works and hides in the shadows of the world.”

In the past two and a half months, the media has thoroughly studied the political changes that have occurred in the United States.

I woke up at 10:30 a.m. and went upstairs to eat breakfast. I was sitting down with a bowl of cornflakes when my housemates came into the room and told me that planes had crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I ran upstairs with them where a couple of TV’s were on.

The American attacks on Afghanistan on October 6, caused all of us to ask the same question: “do I agree?” For the large majority of the country, the answer seems to be an affirmative yes. Yet, in such a situation a look into the rationale and justification for the attacks is vitally important.

Hot violence is the death and chaos of this past Tuesday in New York and Washington. Hot violence is the Columbine High School massacre, the Oklahoma City bombing. The unspeakable horror is up close and visible; witnesses' emotions are felt; outrage is immediate; media are quick to the scene.

Perhaps the vast majority of Americans feel the need to conform and heed calls for war, or perhaps this majority genuinely feels the need for armed retaliation in response to the recent terrorist attacks on the United States.

It was not really that much different from so many days, but it just seemed really bad at the time. Class was rough. I had a headache. I had a ton of homework. My love life was in shambles. I had no idea what I was going to do after college, and of course the job market was shrinking. Now I know this sounds like a lot of nonsense, but it was all playing on my mind at the time.