Dear Future Self

Sheikh Abdullah

Prof. Ocxanne Jeanne

February 2nd 2017

Dear future self,

I hope this letter finds you well. Firstly, congratulations on making it 29! I hope you have got rid of that ridiculous looking couch in the living room and I certainly hope you aren’t single. I mean it when I say that this letter finds you “well”. Well in every sense of the word, like the world being a better place than it is now February 2nd 2017.

The world being a better place than it is right now isn’t actually saying much, especially for immigrant Muslims like us. Last month I would genuinely say that I was lucky to be where I am now, in the United States of America, studying at Broward College. This month? Not so much. With amount of changes that this country, God bless it, has gone through in a mere month, it is truly staggering. The president issued an executive order last week, banning immigrants from seven countries, all of which are predominantly Muslim. And I for one, am genuinely terrified to expect what is to come in the next four years. Even Muslims holding the Green Card, and I want you to understand this properly, Muslim “Green Card” holders are being banned from entering U.S. soil. Why are they not being allowed to enter, you may ask? Well, the president has stated that these countries have had major instability and terrorism taking place within them, and that he has issued this ban for he fears that people from such countries, who are basically being classified as terrorists, will enter and terrorize the United States of America.

Now, I will accept that the fear of having terrorists in the country you pledged to protect is completely understandable, and that this ban would make complete sense if it had the statistics to match it. But that is where this ban makes no sense at all because, according to a statistics report conducted by www.cdc.gov, the number of Americans killed by Islamic jihadist immigrants are 2 people in a year. Yes, you heard that correctly, just two in a year. That’s less than the number of Americans killed annually by lightning. The statistics also show that an average of 11,737 Americans are shot to death by their own fellow Americans.

So, it just begs the question, why are we Muslims being banned and blamed for all the killings? I mean if the president really issued this ban based on terrorism and murder, He would have to ban his own, fellow American citizens that he is entitled to protect, from entering the country. Now that wouldn’t look too good, would it? I am sure there would be an instant outrage about doing that within the government itself. It is just easier to blame the minorities who have the lowest murder rates annually.

Nonetheless, end of the day, I do not want all of this to get to you, assuming you are still sane after all the madness that you have experienced in these 10 years. I do not want you to be ashamed of who you are and where you come from or what religion you practice. I believe that unity truly comes with accepting diversity. We will truly be considered the citizens of the United States once we learn to live happily in diversity. Be proud of who you are, and what you have become. If you ever feel like you are failing in life and that there is no one who understands you or can help you, always remember that God is always there for you. In your darkest and happiest times, God is the one who will always be by your side. Never lose your faith in God. Because in hopefully 60 years or so, when you die a peaceful death, it is to God where you will return. It is from God  we have come and it is to him we shall return.