watching this amazing performance brings back so many memories of 9/11/01. it was such a god awful day and i’ll remember it for the rest of my life.

i remember feeling so awful for those people who lost their lives and the families they left behind. seeing people jump out of the windows of the towers because they didn’t want to burn to death, watching the planes hit the towers over and over and over again, watching them go down and seeing new yorkers run for their lives. those images will be forever ingrained in my mind.

being an arab, i remember feeling what true racism felt like. completely and utterly feeling it. we had to tell my 11 year old brother not to tell people at his school he was arabic. i didn’t go around advertising it either. it was an awful, horrific time.

i remember breaking down almost everyday for a month because i didn’t want to live out the rest of my 20s in fear. fear of flying, fear of bringing the war onto US soil, fear of telling people i was arabic, fear of going to LA for a show because it might be blown up any minute…fear of living in fear.

this tori amos performance was the first night back for letterman after the tragedies and not only did it touch a lot of people, but it choked letterman up too. it was a very appropriate and timely performance.

my heart, thoughts and prayers go out to people who have been affected by 9/11.