Still Moments- A Story about Faded Dreams & Forbidden Pictures

Zighen Aym
ZAWP(2005)
ISBN 0976599805
Reviewed by Christina Smith for Reader Views (2/06)

"If you stand up and are counted, you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good."-Watson J. Thomas Jr. This quote is taking from Chapter 5 of Zighen Aym's book and is, in my opinion, a perfect example of the man that Mr. Aym is. In his book, “Still Moments,” Zighen shows us what it is like to be an Algerian-American after 9/11. Mr. Aym came to this country to get away from the hardships that were in Algeria and make a better life for himself and his family. Little did he know that just by taking innocent pictures of spider webs and railroad tracks he would be under investigation. This just goes to show you the kind of country we are living in where innocent people are questioned just because they enjoy doing something that the government sees as could possibly be related to terrorists.

This book has made me realize even more that not everything the government does is for our protection. While people were investigating Mr. Aym, there could have been something else going wrong somewhere that the moment they would have known nothing about. Zighen Aym's book is one that should be read by all of us, to show that there are still good people in this world and that not everybody is out to hurt us.

Mr. Aym is a normal person, just like you and me, who one day decided to stop on the famous Route 66 and take some pictures. That is when a State Trooper spotted him and started asking him all kinds of questions. Now I know that in this day in age everybody is scared, but after the answers that Mr. Aym gave, I feel as though he wasn't a threat and should have been let go, instead of being made to wait in his car until the Trooper came back after checking him out and let him go. I liked how Mr. Aym thought that it was amusing. You could still tell that he was anxious about the meeting with the FBI, but that he was also accepting it. In the end, everything turned out okay. Mr. Aym wasn't arrested for anything and was allowed to go back to his family. If you want to read a book that shows you how life is like for people after 9/11, pick up this book. You won't be disappointed.

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