When a country is attacked, regardless of its stature, the best way to make it through the devastating period is by having its citizens stick together and support each other.

Thus it is unacceptable a number of students of the Islamic faith or from Islamic countries are being taunted during this aftermath. This same mistake was made soon after Pearl Harbor when perfectly innocent Japanese-Americans were incarcerated in camps based on their heritage.

Even if Osama bin Laden is responsible, it is ridiculous to believe that just because he believes in cleansing all Americans from this earth, all other persons of the same faith feel the same way. The distinction has to be made between what Bin Laden is and what a true Muslim is. A true Muslim is not a fanatic; rather, the religion preaches peace. Christianity is much the same way, and has also had its name sullied by fanatics. The Crusades are a great example.

Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Christians — all of America lost something yesterday, and no group felt it any harder or softer than the next. In the end, we are all Americans. We have to stand united. I know we all want to know who the true culprit is, but just because we want someone to blame doesn’t mean we can scapegoat an entire community. We are all in this together; we all have to get out of this together. Whoever did this wants America to break down. Don’t let them get what they want.