Quit Hating the Wrong "I" to Create World Peace
Are You Guilty of Hating the Wrong “I”?
Radical Muslims! Terrorists! Strange prayer habits and crazy wailing self-flagellators. The Sunnis kill the Shiites, even though they both revere the same Quran holy book. And they’re trying to destroy the Judao-Christian way of life and make us convert to Islam. What’s up with those weird Muslims?
Or, to look from another point of view:
Radical Christians! Sending missionaries all over the globe to convince the happy “natives” that their ancient beliefs are all wrong. Mormons think the Catholics are wrong. “Pro-lifers” are so pro life that they murder doctors who have helped rape victims. Fundamentalists believe that God rigged the geologic layering so that carbon dating just makes rocks look much older than they truly are.
The way you’re convinced things really are may be completely invalid when you look at it from the other side of the fence.
That’s why I travel. I want to understand all perspectives. I’ve come to understand that everybody is convinced that theirs is the only truly valid viewpoint. But that just can’t be so.
To Western Judeo-Christians, it appears that the Islamic world is our enemy. It’s not. Our real enemy is Ignorance.
The only way to end the cycles of hatred in the world is to understand other perspectives and recognize that they may seem wacky to you, but are completely valid to others. And to those others, your own world view seems to be all wrong. Ignorance breeds mistrust, and that leads to fear and hatred.
Right now, so much of our western world’s concerns focus on Islam and the Middle East. But, doesn’t that stem from ignorance? Sure, there are Muslims who are nuts and want to convert everybody to their way of thinking. And…there are Christians like that, too.
So, let’s detest Ignorance rather than Islam, starting with ourselves.
I’m a quite worldly guy, but I must admit that the Shiite/Sunni schism has baffled me. I’m not quite sure why the “Strait of Hormuz” is important, or even where it is.
So, I find out. And I invite you to do the same.
Go to your library. You already pay for it with your tax dollars and it’s the most amazingly valuable resource. Yet, few of us use it to fight ignorance, which leads to misunderstanding, which leads to hatred, which leads to war.
I go to the library virtually daily. And I mean “virtually” in the sense of visiting online. I'm a huge fan and frequent patron of my local library system and I'll bet your library offers a service similar to the online service offered by mine. I simply log on to my library's website and enter my library card number and password. From there, I have "access" to all of the books on all of the shelves in all of the libraries in my system.
Since our news seems to be dominated by developments concerning Muslims in the Middle East, and since I confess that I don’t know much about it, I turn to the library.
For example, I'm headed for Dubai on a business trip in June, so I simply search for all books with "Dubai" as part of their keyword listings. I don't care if it's in the title or in the table of contents, I'd like to see every possible book in the library system that deals with Dubai. Sure enough, there are plenty. I browse through the online catalog listings and those books that look like they might be of interest I simply place on hold with a couple of mouse clicks . They get shipped to my local library, and I receive an e-mail telling me when they've arrived. Once a week, I swing by to pick them up and return the others I’ve skimmed through since last week’s visit.
One book shows a clear map of the Arabian Peninsula. There’s the Strait of Hormuz. Ahhh, now, I clearly see why it’s so important, while I didn’t even know where it was before I checked out books with maps.
One especially helpful library source I've come to rely upon is the children's book section. I never actually go to the kids’ section. When I’m hunting for books online, I've learned that the "J." prefix in book numbering designations indicates that it's a juvenile-oriented book. They turn out to be just fine for me. Maybe I like the big print. Or the picture captions. Maybe it's just the simplification.
It turns out that in 610 A.D. an Arab merchant named Muhammad began “receiving messages from God.” Kind of like Jesus did. He went around spreading the word of righteous living, which included giving to the poor, doing good, praying to God, and so on. Kind of like Jesus did. But, then he died. So, some of his followers elected a new religious leader, called a “caliph” to carry on. They wanted all believers to follow “the path,” which translated to “Sunni” in their language. Others, though, thought that Muhammad’s son-in-law, being the closest male relative, should carry on. They called themselves “Shiites.”
Doesn’t this sound like Ireland and Northern Ireland, so far?
So, all the squabbling in Islam today goes back to a disagreement about who should have assumed religious power back in 632 A.D. when Muhammad died without a son. (Let’s not even get into the male/female business.)
In most of the Muslim world (about 20% of the world’s population, and growing, while Christians comprise about 30%...and declining) Sunnis reign. (I use a memory “cheat” and think of the sun shining all over most of the Islamic lands.) Only in Iran and Iraq and a very few smaller states are the Shiites in the majority. Yet, Saddam Hussein and his government were Sunnis and they held power over Iraq’s Shiite majority. Now the U.S. is concerned about Iran meddling in Iraq. Well, of course, they’re of the same Shiite sect.
It’s all very foreign and confusing. How can you tell them apart? Names, subtle differences in their beliefs, and prayer styles. Sunnis fold their arms while praying; Shiites hold them at their sides. (I think of the two “i”s in “Shiite” as representing a prayer’s two arms at his side. It’s all baffling until you set out to understand it even just a little.
I love knowing that at least a part of my tax dollars goes to worthy causes in which I believe. Library systems, national parks, and our air safety programs, are all worthwhile investments. I use them all and am grateful for the return on investment I get to enjoy.
Don’t be afraid of Islam. Fear Ignorance, instead. Refuse to be part of it. Your greatest resource to fight Ignorance is your local library. Turn off the TV, go get a library card, and be a person who fights war by fighting misunderstanding.
Our enemy is Ignorance, not Islam.
We create peace by seeking understanding, and we already pay for the only resource we need to educate ourselves. So, What Are We Waiting For?
Radical Muslims! Terrorists! Strange prayer habits and crazy wailing self-flagellators. The Sunnis kill the Shiites, even though they both revere the same Quran holy book. And they’re trying to destroy the Judao-Christian way of life and make us convert to Islam. What’s up with those weird Muslims?
Or, to look from another point of view:
Radical Christians! Sending missionaries all over the globe to convince the happy “natives” that their ancient beliefs are all wrong. Mormons think the Catholics are wrong. “Pro-lifers” are so pro life that they murder doctors who have helped rape victims. Fundamentalists believe that God rigged the geologic layering so that carbon dating just makes rocks look much older than they truly are.
The way you’re convinced things really are may be completely invalid when you look at it from the other side of the fence.
That’s why I travel. I want to understand all perspectives. I’ve come to understand that everybody is convinced that theirs is the only truly valid viewpoint. But that just can’t be so.
To Western Judeo-Christians, it appears that the Islamic world is our enemy. It’s not. Our real enemy is Ignorance.
The only way to end the cycles of hatred in the world is to understand other perspectives and recognize that they may seem wacky to you, but are completely valid to others. And to those others, your own world view seems to be all wrong. Ignorance breeds mistrust, and that leads to fear and hatred.
Right now, so much of our western world’s concerns focus on Islam and the Middle East. But, doesn’t that stem from ignorance? Sure, there are Muslims who are nuts and want to convert everybody to their way of thinking. And…there are Christians like that, too.
So, let’s detest Ignorance rather than Islam, starting with ourselves.
I’m a quite worldly guy, but I must admit that the Shiite/Sunni schism has baffled me. I’m not quite sure why the “Strait of Hormuz” is important, or even where it is.
So, I find out. And I invite you to do the same.
Go to your library. You already pay for it with your tax dollars and it’s the most amazingly valuable resource. Yet, few of us use it to fight ignorance, which leads to misunderstanding, which leads to hatred, which leads to war.
I go to the library virtually daily. And I mean “virtually” in the sense of visiting online. I'm a huge fan and frequent patron of my local library system and I'll bet your library offers a service similar to the online service offered by mine. I simply log on to my library's website and enter my library card number and password. From there, I have "access" to all of the books on all of the shelves in all of the libraries in my system.
Since our news seems to be dominated by developments concerning Muslims in the Middle East, and since I confess that I don’t know much about it, I turn to the library.
For example, I'm headed for Dubai on a business trip in June, so I simply search for all books with "Dubai" as part of their keyword listings. I don't care if it's in the title or in the table of contents, I'd like to see every possible book in the library system that deals with Dubai. Sure enough, there are plenty. I browse through the online catalog listings and those books that look like they might be of interest I simply place on hold with a couple of mouse clicks . They get shipped to my local library, and I receive an e-mail telling me when they've arrived. Once a week, I swing by to pick them up and return the others I’ve skimmed through since last week’s visit.
One book shows a clear map of the Arabian Peninsula. There’s the Strait of Hormuz. Ahhh, now, I clearly see why it’s so important, while I didn’t even know where it was before I checked out books with maps.
One especially helpful library source I've come to rely upon is the children's book section. I never actually go to the kids’ section. When I’m hunting for books online, I've learned that the "J." prefix in book numbering designations indicates that it's a juvenile-oriented book. They turn out to be just fine for me. Maybe I like the big print. Or the picture captions. Maybe it's just the simplification.
It turns out that in 610 A.D. an Arab merchant named Muhammad began “receiving messages from God.” Kind of like Jesus did. He went around spreading the word of righteous living, which included giving to the poor, doing good, praying to God, and so on. Kind of like Jesus did. But, then he died. So, some of his followers elected a new religious leader, called a “caliph” to carry on. They wanted all believers to follow “the path,” which translated to “Sunni” in their language. Others, though, thought that Muhammad’s son-in-law, being the closest male relative, should carry on. They called themselves “Shiites.”
Doesn’t this sound like Ireland and Northern Ireland, so far?
So, all the squabbling in Islam today goes back to a disagreement about who should have assumed religious power back in 632 A.D. when Muhammad died without a son. (Let’s not even get into the male/female business.)
In most of the Muslim world (about 20% of the world’s population, and growing, while Christians comprise about 30%...and declining) Sunnis reign. (I use a memory “cheat” and think of the sun shining all over most of the Islamic lands.) Only in Iran and Iraq and a very few smaller states are the Shiites in the majority. Yet, Saddam Hussein and his government were Sunnis and they held power over Iraq’s Shiite majority. Now the U.S. is concerned about Iran meddling in Iraq. Well, of course, they’re of the same Shiite sect.
It’s all very foreign and confusing. How can you tell them apart? Names, subtle differences in their beliefs, and prayer styles. Sunnis fold their arms while praying; Shiites hold them at their sides. (I think of the two “i”s in “Shiite” as representing a prayer’s two arms at his side. It’s all baffling until you set out to understand it even just a little.
I love knowing that at least a part of my tax dollars goes to worthy causes in which I believe. Library systems, national parks, and our air safety programs, are all worthwhile investments. I use them all and am grateful for the return on investment I get to enjoy.
Don’t be afraid of Islam. Fear Ignorance, instead. Refuse to be part of it. Your greatest resource to fight Ignorance is your local library. Turn off the TV, go get a library card, and be a person who fights war by fighting misunderstanding.
Our enemy is Ignorance, not Islam.
We create peace by seeking understanding, and we already pay for the only resource we need to educate ourselves. So, What Are We Waiting For?
posted by George Walther | 8:11 AM
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