Refusing to Live in Fear...

Okay...I wrote the following in response to an email I received.  In it, it was telling us to "remember to vote in November" because now, schools in Great Britain and elsewhere were taking teaching of the Holocaust out of their curricula in order not to 'offend' Muslim students.  I looked it up immediately on Snopes.com...and of course, found out that it isn't completely true as written...but something that was extrapolated and blown up by the British tabloid (read: "yellow" ) press.  Thanks to Snopes.com for the wonderful information they provide...the info that prompted this particular rant can be found at http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/holocaust.asp.  So here we go...

Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about this one…it’s not true.  ONE school in the U.K. pulled the Holocaust from its curriculum, not because it would offend Muslim students, but because they feared an anti-Semitic backlash against their Jewish students.  It was just the one school…and it was quickly remedied…but the yellow journalism of the British Tabloids trumpeted that this was going to be all over the country.  NOT TRUE.  Right now, the Holocaust is required teaching both in the United States and in the U.K., in all schools, in all grades.

The attacks on the Towers were committed by a small group of RADICALS, who happened to be Muslims.  I do not personally judge all Muslims by this atrocity, no more than I judge all Christians by the fact that Timothy McVeigh called himself a Christian.  We  have to fight hard not to give in to the fear that some folks in the world would have us give in to.  I have personally known many, many Muslims in my life…and I have consistently found them to be lovely people…full of warmth and hospitality, and ready to help in any situation.  Their kindness and generosity has always been an inspiration, and far from hating them, I find myself wishing that we could be as kind and generous as most of them are. 

There are nutters in every group in the world…whether religious or secular, any group you get into will have a couple of people who have no “governor” in their heads…no personal conscience or good judgment that will stop them from doing radical, stupid and harmful things.  Do we hate and fear the Postal Service because some of their number have gone na-na and killed lots of people?  Do we hate and fear high schoolers for the same reason?  The Boston Strangler was a Catholic…do we hate and fear them?  Now, we have a president who spent some time in a Muslim country as a child, and was schooled (briefly) in a Madrassa.  He has been perfectly upfront about it, not seeking to hide it in any way.  We cannot seek to find a causative relationship between these facts and the fact that the Towers were attacked by Extremist Muslims.

The only danger we are in now is from our own fears.  Any extremists who might wish us ill don’t have to spend a dime or give their lives…they have our fear to make them happy.  Every time an extremist sees Americans lose ONE MORE FREEDOM in pursuit of “security”…they smile.  Their extremism is based on their jealousy and hatred of the American way of life, and of our Liberties.  It’s like a caged animal who tries to bite the hand of someone on the outside…when your own liberty is non-existent or dependent on despots, then of course you’re going to dislike everyone who isn’t in the cage with you.  These extremists are like caged creatures…trying to bite, trying to destroy anything and anyone that represents a freedom that THEY DON’T HAVE.  These people live, they thrive on our fear…and we must stop feeding them. 

I’m not suggesting that we not protect ourselves…but we have to do it within reason, and we MUST STOP giving into all of this fear.  There are people within our own country who thrive on that fear, because it enables them to enrich themselves and their buddies at our expense.  Modern life is dangerous…but that doesn’t mean that we have to consume ourselves with fear.  Life is to be lived…and would a loving God have given us such a beautiful world and such wonderful families and friends if all we were to do is to be consumed in fear and hatred?  I don’t believe so…and I refuse, as an American Citizen, to live in fear.  I will take intelligent and necessary precautions…but I will not spend my every waking moment worrying about who is coming to get us…or worrying that the childhood education of a President makes him a terrorist, or even someone who will give in to terrorists.  I don’t believe it.  I don’t believe that Islam is a religion of evil or menace, either…no more than I believe that Christianity, (which has done some damned crazy things in the name of religion throughout history) is inherently evil. 

I’ve read the Koran…I know what it says…and I know that Muslims believe in Peace as much as we do…and that they and their families crave it the way I believe all normal humans do. I cannot speak to the mindset of extremists…for they are aberrations of humanity…something so far outside of normal that no one can predict or assume what they will or will not do.  We have seen many, many cases of horror on our own soil and on the soil of the world, committed by American Citizens…and yet we do not fear and hate ourselves, nor should we. These are all cases of extremism…and just because they yell loudly, chant “Death to America” or surge in seemingly endless numbers doesn’t mean they are a majority.  They are a minority…in the religion of Islam as in Christianity…and we should not continue to give them the credence that builds their spirits. 

Their biggest recruiting chip is the fear of the American people…and that of the people of the World.  Our refusal to give in to the fear they engender doesn’t make them stronger…far from it, it weakens them in mind and spirit until perhaps even they will be able to see that their cause has no traction.

Refuse to give in to the fear…refuse to be cowed.  Sure, there could always be another attack…from them, or even from within our own borders…but there’s no way to predict it…and if we can’t predict it and we can’t change it…then why should we fear it?  What happens, happens.  Our greatest fear should be that we will become a people so destroyed by fear and caution that we will no longer represent that “shining city on the hill”…that we will no longer provide the example and the hope of and to the rest of the world, and to future generations.  Would we be remembered as a proud, strong, free people?  Or will they remember us as a people who once had the right idea…but surrendered it in a fit of fear and loathing?  Will we live the life we’ve been given, or will we allow a small portion of the population to control where we go and what we do, simply because we are afraid?  Will we enjoy every bit of the wonderful life that we have, or will we slink into our graves, a beaten and a fear-conquered people?

It is up to us…and I know what I will choose.  Do you?

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”…
(attributed to Benjamin Franklin)