The Truth Will Set You Free

Amy Du Vernoy was a French-American who was born in Florida, but moved to Upstate New York when she was six. Her parents had died in a car accident and she came to live with her grandparents. She was now 18 and was in her first semester at Dutchess Community College. As a freshman she had Friday’s off. She loved to write so she joined the college’s writing club that met every Friday at noon on the Grand Hill on the north side of the campus.

It was almost noon as Amy walked up the south side of the grand hill,
she heard a lot of screaming and she figured someone had gotten into a fight. But as she
got to the top of hill the noise grew louder. She stood at the top of hill, staring at mass
chaos. She was people fighting, yelling and chanting. She saw people throwing pictures of Osama Bin Laden and other Muslims into fires in large tin bins. This was not a writer's
meeting.

A man by the name of Robert Summit was yelling over the crowd talking about
“We have to have American Pride. We have to stick together to survive.” After September 11, 2001 Amy had formed her own opinion of American Pride and what she had to do to survive. Even so, she stood there and listened to what Robert had to say for a few minutes. He went on to say that all people of an Arabic background are connected and we have to beware of what we say in there presents. Just then Robert jumped down from the table he was standing on and walked into the crowd, he said something like,

“Well, if you don’t believe me, hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. We’ve got a special guest with us today.” He walked over to a young man in the crowd who resembled a middle-easterner and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. He yelled at him,

“What are you doing here, spy?” The poor man was being surrounded by his classmates as if he had done something wrong.

“I’m not a spy; I was just trying to get to class. I want no trouble” said the Arab man.

“Trouble? You are the trouble. You should have stayed in your own country.”Robert told him pulling him up to the table. Amy was getting a bad feeling about this and started to make her way to table before anyone else. She stood there and watched as Robert dragged the young man on the table and yelled obscenities at him. Amy knew enough was enough when someone in the crowd yelled out

“Kill him!” Robert asked the man,

“Should I kill you? Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t. Should I let you run off and kill millions of people, and ruin millions of families. Or should I end this right now?”

“Stop it, Stop this!! He hasn’t done anything wrong. Just leave him alone, will ya!” Amy screamed getting on top of the table and stepping in the middle of Robert and the Arab man.

“ Hey, what’s your problem? You want this man to kill your family, to kill you! If they can do what they did us on September 11th it’s only a matter of time before they do it to someone else. We are looking at the beginning of World War III, I’m not just protecting our country, but others as well. Don’t you see, just because he hasn’t done anything wrong yet, doesn’t mean he won’t. He could be planning something right now.” Robert said trying to make a believer out of Amy.

“That doesn’t make any difference. He hasn’t
shown any signs of being a danger to anyone here. Maybe he was just trying to get to class. If…”

“Oh, woman….” Robert interrupted her.

“I’m not done. If you kill him, or even harm him in anyway, you will be just as bad as those people who hijacked those planes that day. You’ll be killing someone out of hatred, out of racism. I can understand you being anger, it’s normal, but this is just wrong. Why don’t you go home and a figure out a way to express your anger safely.”

Amy stood eye to eye with Robert trying to think of the next thing to say.

“Fine, I’ll leave. But when the day comes and he takes over this campus, killing everyone in his way, I hope you’re the last one to go. So then you can see why you saved him. So you can be proud of yourself.” Then Robert and the mob walked away and left Amy and the Arab man standing there alone.

Regardless of what Robert had said, Amy did feel proud of herself. She had stood up against a mob that wanted to hill and innocent man. When she walked on to the campus, she was prepared to write a few poems and maybe start a story, if she could find something to write about. Well, Amy didn’t have to search no more, she had found her story. Amy felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to face the Arab man who was looking at her as if she was glowing.

“Thank you very much.” He said

“It was nothing. I just simple told them the truth.”

“It was not a smart thing to do. Now they will hate you as much as they hate me.”

“I don’t care about them. People like that make me ashamed to be called an American.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I’m not really from the middle-east, you know. I’m from New Jersey. My parents moved here a few years before I was born. So I am an American too.”

“Wow that makes me even more ashamed. You’re an American, but all they cared about was what you looked like. They didn’t stop to think. It’s just like Americans! We’re so stupid! We make up phrases like ‘Don’t judge a book its cover’, but that’s exactly what we do time and time again. They see a fat man they think he eats too much, they see a black man in a nice car they think he stole it, they see a Arab man they think he’s a terrorist. I love American I really do, but sometimes I can’t help, but to agree with some of these countries who hate us.”

“I feel the same way. I mean, I was just as shocked as anyone, by the attacks on Semptember 11th. I had no way of knowing, I didn’t plan it. I don’t follow Osama Bin Laden, I don’t think what they did was right. Heck, I’m not even a Muslim. But since September 11th I get teased and harassed everywhere I go. People stalk me, to make sure I’m not up to something. I’m not a terrorist!! I don’t bother anyone. I just want to live my life in peace. But that seems impossible. The American government I fear will kill us all.” The young man looked at the fire that was still burning in one of the trash cans and sat on the
edge of the table. Amy joined him a second later.

“What are you talking about?”

“Let me ask you a question. Have you ever spoken to a person from the middle-east?”

“No.”

“Exactly, and most people from this country haven’t, either. Most of the people who died or were injured on September 11th never had contact with a middle-easterner before that day. So how did the Taliban come to hate us so much? It was the government. We choose them to represent us, but so far all they have done is gotten us and our families killed.”

“I’ve never looked at it like that before, but your right. We let the government speak for us and well, they said the wrong thing now are paying for it with our lives and those of us so don’t die will pay for it with our freedom. But how can we change it.?”

“I don’t know. But I do know that this is more than a War against terrorism, it’s a fight for our freedom and I grantee America won’t lose. But what’s the price of winning?”

The two sat there for a few minutes and pondered over that question. Amy thought of how long this war was going to go on and what the Taliban’s next attack would be and after that what would the U.S do in retaliation. Amy could only imagine the sea-saw the world was about to get on. But what made it worse was that Amy sincerely felt her imagination was about to come true.

“By the way, my name is Mark Maqusod.” The man said to her holding out his hand.

“Amy Du Vernoy” she shook his hand, stood up and grabbed her bag. “Well, if there’s not going to be writer’s club today, I guess I better be going, before the campus police show up to clean up this mess. It was … definitely an experience meeting you Mark. I won’t forget it.”

“Neither will I. You saved my life.”

“No, I only told the truth.” She smiled at him before she made her way back up the hill. When she reached the top, she turned around one more time to smile and wave at Mark. “I may not be there next time, so take care of yourself.” She yelled at him. He gave her a wave and watched as she disappeared out of sight.

On Monday, when Amy got home from her last class, her grandmother told her there was something for her in the kitchen. She went into the kitchen and found a basket of flowers with a card that read: ‘These reminded me of you. They bring great joy when they enter your life and brighten up a room. But even when they wilt away, you can still smell their fragrance.’ Amy had no idea what the card meant but kept it and put the
flowers in water.

The next day Amy received two baskets of flowers with the same message on both cards. For the next two days, she received baskets of flowers, increasing by one each day. By Friday morning she had ten baskets of flowers and ten cards that said the exact same thing, none included a name. Business was usual on campus, and Amy was stumped to who would send her flowers. She asked everyone she knew if them or someone they knew had sent her flowers. All said no.

It wasn’t until she went to Writer’s club on Friday that she got her first clue. Laid out on the North side of the grand hill was a countless amount of flowers that obviously spelled out the words ‘Thank you’ from the top of the hill. She knew then that the flowers had to be coming from Mark. She decided to skip Writer’s Club and find Mark.

She found his phone number and address in the student directory. She didn’t know whether to call him or go over to his apartment, so she went to his apartment to call him from outside. When she dialed the number into her cell phone she thought, “What am I going to say?” She panicked and hung up before the first ring. She sat down on a bench and though of things to say to a man who she just met who keeps sending her flowers because she saved his life a week ago. She couldn’t think, so on that bench she sat hours. Night time fell and through his bedroom window she saw Mark. She ducked down behind the bench and looked up at his window. She watched
him walk around doing numerous things. As she watched him say good-night to his mother,she felt good. A feeling of peace come over her, and it scared her. She quickly ran back to her car and sliently scolded herself for being a peeping tom.

The next morning Amy went out to Mark’s apartment again. This time she was sure she was going to make the call. She had been up most of the night thinking of what to say to him. She decided on three things. ‘Saving him was more of a personal accomplishment of fear than anything, he shouldn’t be wasting his money on buying her flowers and why would he go to such lengths, just to say thank you, which he had done before.’ She picked up her phone, dialed the number, it rang, it rang again, three times, four times, she hung up. She sat there in her car, she was going to wait until he came home. She was going to do this today.

Four hours later he pulled into the driveway. Amy got out of her car and started walking towards the house. She felt a butterfly move in the stomach and wondered why she was so nervous. She caught him taking grocery bags into the house for his mother who was just getting out of the car.

“Amy!... Hi, what a wonderful surprise.” Mark exclaimed putting the bag he was holding back in the trunk.

“ Yeah, well you surprised me too with all those flowers.”

“ Did you like them?”

“ Well, yes, but why would you send me flowers? I mean you didn’t have to, you thanked me on the hill. You shouldn’t spend you money on me.”

“Money is nothing, but paper. I wanted to express how you made me feel last Friday. I wanted to tell you how much you gave me. I had started to lose hope in Americans, but you made me see that they all aren’t bad. You saved my life and that is something I will never stop thanking you for.”

“I only told the truth, nothing more.”

“The truth can set you free. And it certainly set me free.” Amy thought as he said this that it set her free too. Ever since see met this man, life hadn’t seen so heavy.

“Mark, who is this?” an old woman said from
behind him.

“Mother, this is Amy.”

“Oh, Amy!” She said excitedly. She turned to Amy, “It is a blessing to meet you. I have heard so much about you. Mark hasn’t stopped talking about you all week!”

“Mom!” Mark said trying to stop her from going on.

“Ok, ok. Amy it was wonderful meeting you. Please come by again.” As Mark’s mother walked into house Amy told Mark she had to go and started walking out of the driveway.

“Wait, that’s it. You came here to tell me that you got my flowers. That’s it.”

“Yeah.” She said as she continued to walk back to her car.

“Wait! Will I see you again?”

“I don’t know. Maybe if we run into each other on campus.”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t like that idea. I don’t want you to go.”

“I have to go home. I can’t stay here forever.”

“Well, I don’t mean forever and I don’t mean here. I meant I’m not ready for you to walk out of my life. We just met and I want to get to know you.”

“Why?”

“I never met anyone like you before. You changed my life. Since I met you I’ve been free. You don’t meet people often who can free your soul. I don’t want to lose that”

“Wow, I never heard anyone speak about me in that way. I have to admit you do make me feel like there is still some peace left in the world. I don’t want that feeling to go away either.” Amy told him

“So we both don’t want the other to go, yet your still standing in the street.” Mark held out his hand to her to invite her back on the side walk. As she stepped up he said, “I was going to make spaghetti for my mother and I, but it can easily go three ways. What do you say?”

“Spaghetti, is my favorite.”

“Great. Then after lunch can I talk you into a movie? You can pay for yourself if you don’t what me to spend my money on you.” Amy smiled and gave him a nudge in the arm.

“Let’s just take it one step at a time.”

“Fine with me. I didn’t have any money left anyway, after spending you all those, flowers.” Amy nudged him again. “Hey, I’m only telling the truth.”