Peace or Prejudice?

"The weak can never forgive.

Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."

- Mahatma Gandhi -

Any individual who follows media sources (or, really, anyone who doesn't live under a giant boulder... though I'm sure there are many who do) has probably noticed a recurring theme in the news this past week: controversy over a large Islamic Center that is to be built just two blocks from Ground Zero. There's been nothing short of an uproar in response to this project and the words of a certain President Barack Obama. I, for one, am among the supporters of Park51, and I know what some of you are thinking: She's Muslim. Of course she thinks a giant center built by Muslims, for Muslims is a grand idea. Well, I know one thing that's NOT a grand idea, and that's the rationale given by many opponents of Park51.

All sarcasm aside, I'd like to say that I was deeply saddened by 9/11 and for the people who lost loved ones in the horrific attacks. In times of national tragedy, we often serve a large helping of sympathy with a side of patriotism to those suffering most, but I believe that empathy makes for a more filling (and fulfilling) main course. Had I lost a husband, mother, or friend in the World Trade Center, I'd be hurt and distraught to say the least. It's hard to even imagine such a thing; therefore, I am so sorry to the people for whom that has been a reality for nine years.

But when I see a photograph like the one published in today's issue of USA TODAY - a woman holding an American flag in one hand and, in the other, a poster that reads, "Islam Builds Mosques at the Sites of Their Conquests and Victories" - I wonder how people can be so narrow-minded. 

Anger. That's how. 

I'm not telling the families of 9/11 victims to get over their loss and simply forget what happened that day; I'm asking them to try and forgive, maybe not for the sake of the extremists who plotted and carried out the attacks, but for the American Muslims who have had to bear the burden of their fellow Muslims' actions. A very small minority committed an atrocity, and since then, the very large majority has encountered prejudice and discrimination. We need to separate "Islamic faith" from "Muslim terrorists" because the two are not synonymous.

"[President Obama is] pandering to radical Islam. [...] Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There's no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center." - Newt Gingrich

 Why does this reasoning make sense - because it's using analogies that are tangible to the American people and implying that we should stand up for what's "right"? I ask you this: Is overgeneralizing blame and resenting a group for exercising its (American) freedoms right? I wonder how we can possibly compare everyday Muslims building a place of community and worship near Ground Zero to former Nazis parking themselves near the Holocaust Museum. The Nazis were Germans who hated the Jewish; they did not and do not represent the German people as a whole. Well, last time I checked, we weren't allowing al-Qaeda to come and build an anti-American terrorist training camp in Manhattan - a scenario that I feel would belong more accurately in Newt Gingrich's group above. We're talking about the Muslim population in the United States. Are we going to prohibit a German citizen from opening a business near a museum dedicated to the Holocaust? Doubt it. So let's not do the same thing to those often referred to as "moderate, peace-keeping Muslims" - some of whom lost their own loved ones in 9/11.

Forgiveness doesn't justify or condone what was done; what is does is illustrate the determination and resiliency of Americans. We can mourn, but we can also show the Muslim world - both in the U.S. and abroad - that we believe in putting our country's values and liberties to practice... that we don't hold an innocent person responsible for another person's hateful actions... that we're strong, and we're not going to fall prey to bigotry that has no place in our nation. 

For those who support this cause, you help me find peace and encourage me to continue my efforts in making coexistence a destination within reach. As a matter of fact, it's no destination. It's a journey.

And it's gotta start somewhere.

Embrace.