a letter from new york city

Megan Bumpus

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

A few months after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, I returned home from boarding school during Christmas break. New York City felt different to me. It had always been a place full of unfamiliar faces and many surprises. But this time, as I traveled on the subway from my apartment in the Bronx into Manhattan, I felt as though the people around me were angry, and fearful of their neighbors.

Then, last year, after finishing high school, I came back to live in the city again.

One day, on my way home from work in downtown Manhattan, I became aware of just how afraid I had been of my neighbors since 9/11. I had been staring at the floor of the subway train, trying to avoid looking anyone in the eye, instead of enjoying the ride home. At one point, I looked up at the people in the subway car. For the most part, no one looked worried about anything—everyone seemed pretty happy. One guy across from me was nodding his head to the beat of a hip-hop song, playing loudly into his headphones. On the other side of the train, two children were looking at a newspaper and reading out loud in Spanish while their father helped them sound out the difficult words.

As I sat there, I decided I didn't want to continue living every day in fear of the people around me. Something had to change.

I began to think about God, and how He created a universe for all of His children to share in peace. I thought about the fact that we are all brothers and sisters — that no matter where we come from, we have the same source or Creator. God didn't make one person who could love and someone else who could hate — or who could start out good, and then do something evil. Everything God made was “very good” (The Bible, Genesis 1:31 ). I acknowledged to myself that each person on the train had God's goodness, and this was a reason I could love my neighbors, rather than hate or fear them. Then I thought about the rest of the people in New York City, in the US, and in the world, and I knew that this was true of them, too.

These thoughts left me feeling safe and at peace — as though nothing could disturb or hurt me. Nothing around me had changed, but I felt God's love for me and everyone in my path.

A Sunday School teacher of mine once had our class memorize this verse from the Bible: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10 ). These words are always a reminder to me that God is with us, giving us strength and lifting us up when we're afraid. He isn't a supernatural, mighty force in the sky that we can't reach, or that can't help us when we're feeling small and vulnerable. Instead, we can always count on God, our Father and Mother, to protect and comfort us. Knowing that we are all safe in His presence, wherever we are, makes me feel closer to you — all my brothers and sisters in the world.

With love,

Megan Bumpus
Teen Herald Guest Editorial Writer
Bronx, New York City

About the author

Megan recently finished a full-time job with the advocacy group New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. She is now in her first year of college.

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