When I was in grade school (elementary to you), I was scared of the Russians. I was taught to be. My Weekly Reader showed Russian bombers flying with their fierce Red Star emblem shining. Rocket launchers were shown in the May Day parades in Moscow. We were near war all the time with a country that I was told did not believe in God, a country that took the children away to factories or the army while still young, and a country that always looked dreary, cold and lifeless. I grew up thinking that these people did not feel like you and I. They were sort of robots or something. As I grew I slowly learned that maybe I was wrong. It was a process much like the first Europeans went through with Native Americans. It was a process like the whites went through with the blacks. It was a process that our country is confronting on two fronts now (Mexicans and Muslims)!
I am probably confessing something that makes me sound insane but here goes:
In my earlier years, say ten years ago or more! I would be watching TV news where a calamity had happened in Ethiopia, Africa, India, or somewhere. There before me were thousands of people homeless, hungry, dying with out hope. I have watched and thought to myself, well, at least they are not like us with families that love them, and someone to care about. I was so disconnected with them it was like they did not feel, did not love, did not live for anything. I thought of them much like animals. You know, like our forefathers thought of slaves, and Indians.
Sounds stupid. Yes, very stupid. I'm glad you have never had such thoughts.
I listen to people talk today about Muslims. Some believe that they worship a different God, they only want to kill us and they all train their children to be terriorists. They are the new Russians!
Somewhere in Afghanistan, a guy is thinking about Americans. Americans worship a different God. They only want to kill. They train their children to be soldiers. They are the new Russians.
I read "The Kite Runner", "A Thousand Splendid Suns", "Three Cups of Tea". I listen to men like Matt Gulley speak of the needs, hopes and dreamsof displaced people from Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan he and his wife are called to help. I hear of Greg Mortenson giving his life to build schools for the children of Pakistan and I read my Bible.
We all are looking to the same God. We all want to live a good life. We want the fighting to stop.
If you haven't got to this point yet. Read "3 Cups of Tea".
As I was thinking about this, I read a story in the Sunday Dallas Morning News by Firoozeh Dumas. She is of Iranian descent but has lived in the US since she was 7. She writes that as a child, people were interested in her heritage and ask her questions about the food and customs. Now even though she is a citizen of our country, she is treated like she is a potential terriorist. This is how she ended her article:
"There is more to America than school shootings, MTV and political scandals. You know that, and I know that. But how are Americans supposed to know that there's more to the Middle East than terrism?"
"Let's make learning about other cultures at least as important as keeping up with our local sports teams. Let's banish the sterotype of the ignorant American. Let's teach our children to be thoughtful critical thinkers who don't buy into fearmongering. Let's remind all Americans that it is the compassionate spirit of this country that has allowed it to become the envy of the world."
"It takes an enlightened soul to refuse to step into that abyss of hatred, to instead shine the light where their is none and to illuminate the path for others."
The Road Less Traveled
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