By MELISSA PEACOCK

The United States is a cornucopia of people, values, cultures and religious beliefs. Sometimes celebrated, sometimes a source of conflict, that diversity distinguishes us from many other nations.

We are “the land of the free,” though at times we have known suppression. We have been divided by segregation. We have been weakened by religious intolerance, by the burning and looting of churches, synagogues and mosques. As other young countries, we have struggled with stereotypes, bigotry, racism – and we are still struggling.

Differences, diversity, did not cease to exist on Sept. 11, 2001. It just ceased to matter (in the negative sense). All of us, black, white, male and female, were just Americans. All of us were touched by the same hatred, the same bigotry. All were exposed, vulnerable and emotionally shaken by the attack on our country.

There is a haunting beauty in the photographs taken at “Ground Zero” last year. Rescue workers, volunteers, Americans of all colors, religions and creeds with outstretched hands pulling broken bodies from the ash. Tired firefighters and police officers in soot-covered suits sitting down to a warm bowl of gumbo or other nourishments served by loving hands. Strangers leaning on one another for support. And people of all religions throughout the nation, praying for victims, support crews, families and the nation.

Residents of St. John the Baptist Parish were no less effected. On Sept. 11, parish flags flew half-staff. Neighbors and families watched media coverage together, celebrating rescues and mourning lives lost. Blood drives and donations were quickly organized to help relief efforts. Concerned students sent care packages and words of encouragement to emergency crews immersed in their work lifting twisted metal and sifting through remnants of glass and plaster in search of bodies, the living and the dead. A nondenominational prayer assembly, one of the first of its kind in the parish, met, a symbol of the emotional and spiritual cohesion of the nation.

But in the weeks following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, some differences were again singled out. This time, Muslims and Americans of middle eastern decent were targets of mistrust and, at times, violence.

Jewelry store owners, arrested, carted away for suspicion of supplying money to terrorist organizations. Businesses closed and accounts frozen pending investigation. Some Muslims were afraid to leave their homes, terrified they would be persecuted for an act that did not even support.

Since the first few turbulent months after 9-11, treatment of Muslims in this country has improved, at least in part. Many members of the media have made valiant efforts to tell the public that most Islamic groups do not condone terrorist activity. American Muslims are also living with traumatic memories of the 9-11 attacks. We must be careful not to push them outside of the circle of support we are building, the events that we are planning, for Sept. 11. They, too, want to grieve the deaths and honor the heroes.

On this the first anniversary of 9-11, we must make it a point to all come together as before, last September, Muslims and Christians alike. No American should be the unjust target of rage felt for the militant group that attacked our nation. We are not only mourning our losses as a nation, we are celebrating the spirit of America.

We are celebrating the same spirit that said last September, we are diverse and yet all the same. We are all vulnerable, all human, all citizens of a free nation. All life is precious.

MELISSA PEACOCK is a staff reporter for L’Observateur. She may be reached at (985) 652-9545.