I know Europeans will never really get completely what the 9/11 represents.How the 9/11 changed forever a Nation.It changed forever the western world actually.I have some very close American friends and my husband’s cousin was supposed to be at her office in one of the twin towers that morning,fate made her be late.9/11 touched my heart but,over the years,fear and rage started to fade away.Not because I am forgetting but because I am going on with my life,that is the only real opposition to all the terrorist attacks.When tonight I heard President Trump saying that America will always refuse to surrender,I thought it was quite ironic: his immigration policy is a clear act of surrender to fear and terror.His entire political campaign it was.Browsing around on social networks I see so many populistic proclaims about preserving our own countries.About how this uncontrollable immigration flow will soon stole our national identities.Extreme right parties trying to bring the past back and gaining votes promising to return to those days where everything was better.Was it?I don’t know actually,I am too young to remember that past and so are my contemporaries that want to bring it back.They are too young to remember but too stupid and terrified of what they don’t know that everything is better then face reality .Exactly like them I grew up free to circulate around Europe,free to work in witch country I wanted to,free to travel around the world.I grew up free to read what I wanted and free to speak my opinion.And I am grateful for this privileged upbringing .By what I read on the books,in “the good old days”,there might have been rules and rectitude(I doubt it) but everything was not working as they say ,the world was not safer as they say and,in the same way there was not cultural promiscuity there was not freedom either.Would they realise it?Are they aware of it?Or they are so used to freedom that they give it for granted?That in my opinion is a very dangerous thing to do.The many wars still fought around the world should be enough to remind us of it.The world have changed ,it is part of evolution (with its pro and contro) and changes can’t be reversed but we can adapt to changes.We need to start acknowledge the new and the different because we can’t erase it but once we know it it won’t be scary anymore.We might also like it!!!I suppose when you have kids on your own your vision of the world change.You are responsible for an other human being and the question you should ask yourself is what kind of world you want your kids to live in.Of course you want to keep your kids safe and make them feel safe but raise a wall around them is not the solution.It is not safe either.The “enemy” you think you keep out it doesn’t go away,you are just hiding from it.Are there for real so many people who want their kids live in a world dominated by fear and prejudice?What I am really scare of is ignorance,obtuseness,prejudices and rootless politician who feeds their supporters fear for their own interests.I always told my girls to never judge a book by its cover.I always thought them that we are all different ,inside and out,and the only thing that counts is the “Persona”.Gender,nationality,job,religion must have nothing to do with our judgement because they don’t define who we are.We always lived in a small community and both the school they attended have been very small (around 60 and 80 pupils in the whole school).When my eldest daughter started junior infant,she befriended a Vietnamese girl who has been her best friend until she turned 8 and we moved town and school.Her little friend skin colour or her characteristic facial fixtures never was a way to describe her.The kids in the class couldn’t really see the difference between them,pale blond Irish looking,and her with her very sallow skin and her black silky hair.Once they did a project in class,they were asked to describe someone close to them.My daughter picked her besty,of course,and to her eyes,her physical peculiarity was to have very little hands.That’ s all!.When we moved we transferred the girls to an other multi denomination little school.We have been lucky as,despite the size of the school,there are few different nationalities and religions.There are some kid with learning difficulties of different severity and this is a bless too,because is an other way to learn to live and cope with diversity.When we first moved one of my daughter received a particular warm welcome from a boy born from Muslim Pakistani parents.His mother was a lovely lady,very sociable and friendly(I say was because they moved school the following year),I never associated her vale with terrorism.It would have been absolutely out of contest but,surprisingly,someone at school gate asked me if I was not nervous around her and her boy.I simply replayed asking if they were nervous around me:I am Italian after all I could shoot them for a parking space in perfect mafia style, couldn’t I?What you know can’t hurt you and it can’t scare you.Commonplaces and prejudices can ,on the other hand,poison your life irremediably .I thought I have been a such good parent to teach my daughters to be free and have no prejudice ,to not judge based on commonplace,but you know what ?I didn’t. They have been born prejudice free.Kids have no prejudices,they don’t know the meaning of commonplace,unless you teach them.I am glad my daughters can grew up in a multicolour world.I am glad the different colour of skin, the different nationalities, the different religions has no role in their way to look at whoever is standing in front of them.They are raised to respect everybody.I hope they will always be able to enjoy their freedom and treasure it.

I feel sad for those who don’t.