The terrorist attacks on the United States have brought out the best in some people. We watched firefighters and police fight and die to save victims. We saw countless people donate blood. Unfortunately, we are seeing the worst in some people. First, we saw the worst in the terrorist. Now, we are seeing the worst in almost all people.
I know it’s clich, but since the Sept. 11 attacks, it has been ringing true.
The clich in question: there’s just enough religion in this world to make us hate, not enough to make us love.
Since the attacks, many have been focusing on the events in the Middle East. People are asking many questions. People want to know the “who,” the “what,” the “where,” the “when” and the “how.”
There is one question – probably the most important – many people neglect to ask. The question: why? Why would people do this?
Many people feel strongly that they are divinely entitled to certain things. A popular feeling in the Middle East is that people are entitled to certain land.
Because it says so in some book, many feel they have exclusive rights to areas of land.
All of the horrible bloodshed is beginning to make me, like others, wonder if the creation of Israel in 1948 was really worth it. Thanks to the horrors brought on by Nazi ideology, something had to be done to appease Jews after World War II. It was absolutely appalling: 6 million Jews systematically killed in just a few years.
About 70 percent of the world’s Jewish population lives in the United States. I would argue that it wouldn’t hurt to add to our population the few that live in Israel, but this relies on the false assumption that all Jews are the same.
And therein lies one of the biggest problems. People have a tendency to generalize.
Still, I can sympathize with Palestinians too. To be suddenly and deliberately displaced from your homeland must be devastating.
But, Jews and Palestinians are just two of many groups of people throughout history who have been evicted from their lands.
What about my French-Canadian ancestors who got kicked out of Nova Scotia when the British took over? Even though south Louisiana can be humid and miserable, do you think my family wishes to one day regain control of its lost land on the northern Atlantic Coast?
There’s no strip of land anywhere with my name eternally engraved into it.
In the Middle East, Muslims, Jews and Christians kill each other. Why? Because each has a different name for the same god.
And few seem to be able to get past that fact. When will we realize it? We are all the same in so many ways. People are people.
Religions have done many great things for many people, some of whom would otherwise be destitute and hopeless.
Religion has brought peace and understanding to many people of many races. It has been the inspiration for great painters, poets, musicians and philosophers.
Perhaps the best thing religion has done is give to give the weary and wretched a sense of purpose and hope, a meaning in life, a place in the world.
Still, we take it too far sometimes. Osama bin Laden and the Taliban are using the Muslim faith to justify their cruel activities, including their attacks on the United States and Israel. Their Koran does have verses which talk of violence against non-believers. But those words are open to interpretation. The peaceful Muslims of the United States are proof of this.
The Israelites are not innocent of this practice either. They have the “eye for an eye” mentality, described in the Torah, part of the reason the Catholic Church places hardly any emphasis on the Old Testament.
Still, Christians engage in the practice as well.
No religion can claim it is better than others. I’ve even heard of a Catholic priest saying this.
We in the United States are not clean either.
You can turn on the television anytime and watch a congregation influenced by a man who says the Bible guides his actions.
We’re cruel and hateful like others.
I was outraged when I heard about a man in Arizona who murdered a convenience store owner following the Sept. 11 attacks simply because he wore a turban and spoke in an odd dialect. As it turns out, the victim was not even an Arab or a Muslim. He was a Hindu from India.
I have experienced this type of bigotry right here in my hometown.
Last week, while exercising at my health club, I found myself drawn into a group discussion on the terrorist problem. One youngster said we should take all Arabs and kill them. Another said we should fight a war against all Muslims, exactly what the terrorists are trying to turn this into.
Last Friday, I saw the father of one of my friends whom I have not seen since the spring, and he told me how his son was doing in graduate school. He said that in his son’s degree program, only about 10 percent of the students were American. Orientals comprised 20 percent.
He said the remaining 70 percent were “ragheads” from the Middle East.
It really disturbs me that educated adults will stoop to such a level. This conversation took place at a high school football game (hardly a breeding ground for liberal thinking).
Haven’t we gotten over name-calling and discriminating?
This must stop. Otherwise, we are doing the same thing to these terrorists that they are doing to us. That is why I commend President Bush for consistently making note of the fact that this is not a war on Islam.
We can fight an effective war on terrorism without being hateful. The Taliban is hateful. We don’t need hate.
The Beatles told us what we need in the 1960s. Love is all we need.
Before we sing praises for our countries and our creeds, we have to examine our minds and our hearts. Additionally, we must take the time to understand the minds and hearts of those not like us. We can’t misrepresent our faiths, nor can we let our faiths misrepresent us.
We can no longer afford to be ignorant and live in fear.
If we stoop to the level of the terrorists, the cycle of destruction will continue indefinitely and we will never triumph.
We must mature and quit placing masks on those we cannot understand or chose not to understand, or else, many innocent people will forever be the victims of hate and suffering.
