You say you will never forget where you were on September 11…but I will never forget the lessons I learned at the knees of my parents and in school, about the proud, brave people who first plied these shores, and the proud, brave people they found when they got here.
These people had been repressed in Britain…France…Germany…Spain…other places in Europe. Repressed not because they were criminals…or bad people…or terrorists…but because their beliefs in God were different from those in power. Read that carefully…these people had done nothing wrong…they merely didn’t believe as the leaders of their countries believed, and that was enough to buy you at the least, torture and misery; and at the worst, death.
The people they met when they set foot on these shores did not know what to think of these creatures…but although there were altercations from time to time over food or land, the Native American Indians never punished anyone because of their different beliefs. In fact, many tribes took what they learned from the Old World Settlers and incorporated it into their own belief systems. It wasn’t hard for them to understand the concept of One God…they believed that the God of the Indians, the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka, was the same as the God of the White Man. Just because the settlers called Him by different names didn’t mean that He wasn’t the same, and this concept was broadly accepted.
All people who believe in a God of any sort believe that he (or she!) is omnipotent and omniscient. If this is true…then there really is only ONE GOD. My South Asian neighbors are polytheists; they have many Gods and Goddesses in their Pantheon…but there is still a main Creator God, whom they call Vishnu. My African brothers and sisters call him by many names, depending on where they’re from and what their belief system is. My Muslim friends call him Allah…not because (and please pay close attention here, this is IMPORTANT) he is a different God from the God of the Christians…but because Allah is the name with which they address God in their tongue.
What is it about Christians that makes them think that they have a corner on the Truth? A monopoly on God? When this great country was founded on the principals of freedom of Religion (and from it, too!), why is it that we in the modern day are so ready to surrender one of our dearest principles just to keep a mosque from being built?
First of all…the mosque is NOT at “Ground Zero”. It is several blocks away. I fail to see how this is an insult to anyone. Secondly…Muslims were amongst the folks who died in the towers…so when we’re spending today mourning all of those poor souls, HOW ON EARTH can we ignore the Muslims among them? Thirdly…and this is critical…GROUND ZERO IS NOT HALLOWED GROUND. If it is, then so is every highway, every bridge and many of the homes in this country, since Americans have died in/on these too. Ground Zero is a cemetery, true…and certainly there are things that would truly be inappropriate to build there; a Gas Station, a Casino, a Race Track…Trump Towers. But a mosque (in addition to being a community center) is a place of worship. Just because it’s not a Christian Church doesn’t mean it’s not a church. What is more appropriate than a place of worship to occupy that place?
As to the connection between Islam and the brain-addled, fringe radicals that took down the towers…well, they’re as alike as chalk and cheese. We don’t hate all Christians just because several amongst their number have made utterly stupid statements in the press, and we don’t hate all Christians just because one of their number killed 168 people at Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh considered himself a Christian…and yet, instead of blaming all Christians, we point to the fact that he was a member of a Militia movement; a RADICAL. Blaming all of Islam for the actions of these particular idiots would be the same…and not allowing a mosque to be built on a piece of land that is near the fallen towers and not on top of them would be even worse.
The fact is, if you want terrorism, you need look no farther than the Bible. People who considered themselves Godly were hacking each other to pieces rather frequently. Christians believe that God created Humankind…and if that is so, did He not create the Muslims as well? Are they not Children of God, just as much as any Christian? Any Jew?
We, as Americans, have taken a lot of hits to our reputation in the World in the last decade or so…there are many situations and images which have put the lie to the very principles upon which this Country is founded…will anyone forget where they were when the photos of the insane degradation and human cruelty at Abu Ghraib came out? Was that Christian? Was it Godly?
Wouldn’t we feel wronged, horribly wronged, if the Muslim world were to infer our individual characters from those of the knuckle-dragging little cretins who wore the uniforms of the United States in that hellhole? And yet, they could…I expect many did. But that is every bit as unfair as us inferring the nature of Muslims from that of the Muslims we’ve met on the 6 o’clock news…those who blow themselves and others up for glory. These people are aberrations…just like Timothy McVeigh was.
Muslims have been here in America for a long time, and yet…did any one of us stop to think about the kind of people they were before September 11th? Did we ever take notice of the charity they do (not only to Muslims, but to many different agencies and groups)? Did any of us have Muslim friends? And on that day…that horrible day…did any of us stop to think that perhaps the people who flew those planes into the towers and into the fields that day were not from ANY ‘normal’ group…for people like this would be reviled in any truly Godly group or any truly Free Country.
No…the media smelled anger and blood on the wind, and fanned it into a flame with ignorance…and we bought it. There were Mosque burnings and defacing…attacks on innocent Muslims…anger and threats of Terrorism to avenge an act of Terrorism. Our President, while presenting a brave front to the country, failed utterly as a human being by hanging the sins of a few incorrigible miscreants on an entire country, on an entire Faith; and we, angry, hurt and confused…we followed him.
Ah, yes…Faith. It’s interesting to note that the people who feared the worst and thought the worst of Islam are amongst the same people who consider their Faith the strongest. People who believe that the God of the Christians (as though he’s different from the God of the Muslims or the God of the Jews or the God of the Kalahari Tribesmen) is Omniscient, Always Right and Destined to Win at the End of Days still found their faith foundering in the face of this terrible attack…but did they turn the other cheek, as exhorted to in their own Holy Book? No…they called for a war…not on a Country (at that point, we were at war in at least two) but on a people and on a faith.
Many Christians are quick (especially nowadays) to consider themselves victimized by the mere mention of something as innocuous as “Happy Holidays”, even where no insult was intended. They’re convinced that Christianity is under attack, the reality of which has never been accurately established. How do they think that Muslims feel when the reality of the attack on their faith is so obvious? How much Faith does someone really have when they’re so afraid of new ideas that they constantly spew hate and protest the rights of a group just because it isn’t their group…and want to destroy that group’s right to build their own place of worship, just because of some perceived connection to terrorism?
My Father was a United States Marine…my brothers and my husband are too. Like many Americans, my family goes back to the beginning of this great experiment in religious freedom…this America…and has fought and died on Her side more times than any of us can even count. I consider myself as committed and resolute a Patriot as any Tea Party member, as any family member of anyone lost in the towers, as much as anyone at Fox News (maybe more so, in truth!). Far from being insulted by the potential for a mosque near ‘Ground Zero’ I’m extremely heartened by the resilience of the American Spirit and the way that this mosque situation illustrates it.
Growing up, I was always warmed by what America represented…what She offered. She offered comfort to the Oppressed; Freedom to those who had been denied it; a path to God for those in whose path had been placed obstacles. Whatever someone was, whoever someone was in the Old World, they could be anyone or anything they wanted to here. This was the New World…a place that was created out of the best ideas, and whose war against the worst ideas was constant and watered with the blood of Patriots.
Granted that strength of purpose, so many amazing things have been created and committed in the name of and within the boundaries of this America. Would we stop this now? Would we surrender our highest principles for this reason? For ANY reason? NO! Until now, we have not…we cannot…WE MUST NOT. The blood of those who fought and died for these very principles calls on us all to remember the importance of them.
It’s easy to remember one’s principles when they are not being tried…the true test of the strength of our resolutions, the courage of our convictions is when they are tested…especially when they are tested on that self-same ground that we hold dear. The people who died in and around the towers were not heroes. This is not a sacrilege…merely a statement of fact. I daresay they would not have chosen to die in the towers if given a choice.
The real heroes were those who did their job on a day when all the rules were changed by several planes…the Police, the Fire Brigades, the Rescue Searchers. These are people who knew the job was dangerous when they took it, but who could ever have guessed to what extent when they each pinned on their individual badges?
These people and the warriors who for centuries have fought on the ground of this country and others to maintain the principles we hold dear…these are the true heroes. But if someone had told them that the place and circumstances of their deaths would be used to deny people their rights to one of our most dearly held concepts…that of Religious Freedom…what do you think their reaction would be? No one can say…but my belief is that any heart that so treasured Freedom that it was willing to give its own life for it would be disappointed to see us use it for such a base purpose.
Let us not disappoint those who have fertilized Free soil with their remains…let us not prove ourselves unworthy of the beliefs and concepts of those who came before. Let us understand that we are Americans…we are strong enough to withstand the sight of a Mosque in such a special place…or any place. Let us find once again that amazing sense of community that filled us in the days immediately following the disaster…when we had realized, thanks to a harsh lesson, that Human Life is Fragile…and everyone’s life is unpredictable. When we saw each Man and Woman as Brother and Sister, and when we realized that America is more than just the sum of Her parts…that we were and are a Country…A Nation…a Spirit. That day, all of us as Americans were annealed in the furnace of Tragedy and became Burnished Gold.
Next September 11th, instead of remembering the sorrow and the pain, let us remember that.
These people had been repressed in Britain…France…Germany…Spain…other places in Europe. Repressed not because they were criminals…or bad people…or terrorists…but because their beliefs in God were different from those in power. Read that carefully…these people had done nothing wrong…they merely didn’t believe as the leaders of their countries believed, and that was enough to buy you at the least, torture and misery; and at the worst, death.
The people they met when they set foot on these shores did not know what to think of these creatures…but although there were altercations from time to time over food or land, the Native American Indians never punished anyone because of their different beliefs. In fact, many tribes took what they learned from the Old World Settlers and incorporated it into their own belief systems. It wasn’t hard for them to understand the concept of One God…they believed that the God of the Indians, the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka, was the same as the God of the White Man. Just because the settlers called Him by different names didn’t mean that He wasn’t the same, and this concept was broadly accepted.
All people who believe in a God of any sort believe that he (or she!) is omnipotent and omniscient. If this is true…then there really is only ONE GOD. My South Asian neighbors are polytheists; they have many Gods and Goddesses in their Pantheon…but there is still a main Creator God, whom they call Vishnu. My African brothers and sisters call him by many names, depending on where they’re from and what their belief system is. My Muslim friends call him Allah…not because (and please pay close attention here, this is IMPORTANT) he is a different God from the God of the Christians…but because Allah is the name with which they address God in their tongue.
What is it about Christians that makes them think that they have a corner on the Truth? A monopoly on God? When this great country was founded on the principals of freedom of Religion (and from it, too!), why is it that we in the modern day are so ready to surrender one of our dearest principles just to keep a mosque from being built?
First of all…the mosque is NOT at “Ground Zero”. It is several blocks away. I fail to see how this is an insult to anyone. Secondly…Muslims were amongst the folks who died in the towers…so when we’re spending today mourning all of those poor souls, HOW ON EARTH can we ignore the Muslims among them? Thirdly…and this is critical…GROUND ZERO IS NOT HALLOWED GROUND. If it is, then so is every highway, every bridge and many of the homes in this country, since Americans have died in/on these too. Ground Zero is a cemetery, true…and certainly there are things that would truly be inappropriate to build there; a Gas Station, a Casino, a Race Track…Trump Towers. But a mosque (in addition to being a community center) is a place of worship. Just because it’s not a Christian Church doesn’t mean it’s not a church. What is more appropriate than a place of worship to occupy that place?
As to the connection between Islam and the brain-addled, fringe radicals that took down the towers…well, they’re as alike as chalk and cheese. We don’t hate all Christians just because several amongst their number have made utterly stupid statements in the press, and we don’t hate all Christians just because one of their number killed 168 people at Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh considered himself a Christian…and yet, instead of blaming all Christians, we point to the fact that he was a member of a Militia movement; a RADICAL. Blaming all of Islam for the actions of these particular idiots would be the same…and not allowing a mosque to be built on a piece of land that is near the fallen towers and not on top of them would be even worse.
The fact is, if you want terrorism, you need look no farther than the Bible. People who considered themselves Godly were hacking each other to pieces rather frequently. Christians believe that God created Humankind…and if that is so, did He not create the Muslims as well? Are they not Children of God, just as much as any Christian? Any Jew?
We, as Americans, have taken a lot of hits to our reputation in the World in the last decade or so…there are many situations and images which have put the lie to the very principles upon which this Country is founded…will anyone forget where they were when the photos of the insane degradation and human cruelty at Abu Ghraib came out? Was that Christian? Was it Godly?
Wouldn’t we feel wronged, horribly wronged, if the Muslim world were to infer our individual characters from those of the knuckle-dragging little cretins who wore the uniforms of the United States in that hellhole? And yet, they could…I expect many did. But that is every bit as unfair as us inferring the nature of Muslims from that of the Muslims we’ve met on the 6 o’clock news…those who blow themselves and others up for glory. These people are aberrations…just like Timothy McVeigh was.
Muslims have been here in America for a long time, and yet…did any one of us stop to think about the kind of people they were before September 11th? Did we ever take notice of the charity they do (not only to Muslims, but to many different agencies and groups)? Did any of us have Muslim friends? And on that day…that horrible day…did any of us stop to think that perhaps the people who flew those planes into the towers and into the fields that day were not from ANY ‘normal’ group…for people like this would be reviled in any truly Godly group or any truly Free Country.
No…the media smelled anger and blood on the wind, and fanned it into a flame with ignorance…and we bought it. There were Mosque burnings and defacing…attacks on innocent Muslims…anger and threats of Terrorism to avenge an act of Terrorism. Our President, while presenting a brave front to the country, failed utterly as a human being by hanging the sins of a few incorrigible miscreants on an entire country, on an entire Faith; and we, angry, hurt and confused…we followed him.
Ah, yes…Faith. It’s interesting to note that the people who feared the worst and thought the worst of Islam are amongst the same people who consider their Faith the strongest. People who believe that the God of the Christians (as though he’s different from the God of the Muslims or the God of the Jews or the God of the Kalahari Tribesmen) is Omniscient, Always Right and Destined to Win at the End of Days still found their faith foundering in the face of this terrible attack…but did they turn the other cheek, as exhorted to in their own Holy Book? No…they called for a war…not on a Country (at that point, we were at war in at least two) but on a people and on a faith.
Many Christians are quick (especially nowadays) to consider themselves victimized by the mere mention of something as innocuous as “Happy Holidays”, even where no insult was intended. They’re convinced that Christianity is under attack, the reality of which has never been accurately established. How do they think that Muslims feel when the reality of the attack on their faith is so obvious? How much Faith does someone really have when they’re so afraid of new ideas that they constantly spew hate and protest the rights of a group just because it isn’t their group…and want to destroy that group’s right to build their own place of worship, just because of some perceived connection to terrorism?
My Father was a United States Marine…my brothers and my husband are too. Like many Americans, my family goes back to the beginning of this great experiment in religious freedom…this America…and has fought and died on Her side more times than any of us can even count. I consider myself as committed and resolute a Patriot as any Tea Party member, as any family member of anyone lost in the towers, as much as anyone at Fox News (maybe more so, in truth!). Far from being insulted by the potential for a mosque near ‘Ground Zero’ I’m extremely heartened by the resilience of the American Spirit and the way that this mosque situation illustrates it.
Growing up, I was always warmed by what America represented…what She offered. She offered comfort to the Oppressed; Freedom to those who had been denied it; a path to God for those in whose path had been placed obstacles. Whatever someone was, whoever someone was in the Old World, they could be anyone or anything they wanted to here. This was the New World…a place that was created out of the best ideas, and whose war against the worst ideas was constant and watered with the blood of Patriots.
Granted that strength of purpose, so many amazing things have been created and committed in the name of and within the boundaries of this America. Would we stop this now? Would we surrender our highest principles for this reason? For ANY reason? NO! Until now, we have not…we cannot…WE MUST NOT. The blood of those who fought and died for these very principles calls on us all to remember the importance of them.
It’s easy to remember one’s principles when they are not being tried…the true test of the strength of our resolutions, the courage of our convictions is when they are tested…especially when they are tested on that self-same ground that we hold dear. The people who died in and around the towers were not heroes. This is not a sacrilege…merely a statement of fact. I daresay they would not have chosen to die in the towers if given a choice.
The real heroes were those who did their job on a day when all the rules were changed by several planes…the Police, the Fire Brigades, the Rescue Searchers. These are people who knew the job was dangerous when they took it, but who could ever have guessed to what extent when they each pinned on their individual badges?
These people and the warriors who for centuries have fought on the ground of this country and others to maintain the principles we hold dear…these are the true heroes. But if someone had told them that the place and circumstances of their deaths would be used to deny people their rights to one of our most dearly held concepts…that of Religious Freedom…what do you think their reaction would be? No one can say…but my belief is that any heart that so treasured Freedom that it was willing to give its own life for it would be disappointed to see us use it for such a base purpose.
Let us not disappoint those who have fertilized Free soil with their remains…let us not prove ourselves unworthy of the beliefs and concepts of those who came before. Let us understand that we are Americans…we are strong enough to withstand the sight of a Mosque in such a special place…or any place. Let us find once again that amazing sense of community that filled us in the days immediately following the disaster…when we had realized, thanks to a harsh lesson, that Human Life is Fragile…and everyone’s life is unpredictable. When we saw each Man and Woman as Brother and Sister, and when we realized that America is more than just the sum of Her parts…that we were and are a Country…A Nation…a Spirit. That day, all of us as Americans were annealed in the furnace of Tragedy and became Burnished Gold.
Next September 11th, instead of remembering the sorrow and the pain, let us remember that.
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This entry, as all of my entries, is completely my work (with the exception of links and shares) and is my opinion alone. I don’t mind a bit if people disagree with me; all I ask is that you do it in a reasonably civil fashion, out of respect for all intelligent, decent humans. Thanks!