Some Muslims, Some Jews, and Some Christains

OK, now that sounds like a set up for a joke, right? It probably is, but in this case they all got together at Ronald Regan national airport to pray together to protest the recent harassing of a couple of Imams on a recent US Airways flight. The media beats us over the head constantly with how much Jews and Muslims supposedly hate each other (some of them apparently do) but here were some Imams and a Rabbi coming together with common cause. This is a small show of togetherness, but one that should be emulated on a much grander scale.

It was non-violent protests led by Mahatma Ghandi in India that brought the greatest empire in the world, the British Empire, to its knees. With his sheer force of spiritual faith he was able to get the people around him regardless of whether they were Hindu, Christian, Muslim, or Buddhist to work together for the common cause of Indian independence from England. That was no small feat. Since his death you can see the fragiminetation that has taken place between the Muslims and Hindus in India. (for further reading on that issue I recommend doing a google search for Kasmir.) Ghandi's model was used by Dr Martin Luther King, Jr and others here in the United States to bring an end to legalized segregation.

Imagine if you will for a moment, after the Muslim world was inflamed by the Pope's quoting of a 500 year old text, if instead of all the violence one or more of the Grand Imams had contacted the Pope with an offer of dialog and prayer. Many innocent lives would have been spared, and that so called divide between the Muslim world and the West would be slightly less.

Those in power want to keep us separated along the lines of race, religion and class so they can keep us controlled. When they have us controlled they have a docile work force upon the backs of which they can profiteer. When they have Americans distrusting of Muslims they can invade countries like Iraq and Iran, and the inhabitants of those countries have already been dehumanized. The leaders over there are doing the same thing, because by inciting hatred for America keeps their people under their control.

I recently flew across country, and had an enjoyable flight. There was a guy next to me who appeared to be of middle eastern descent. We had a bit of a pleasant chat as the plane taxied then climbed to 10,000 feet. At that time he opened his laptop and iPod and got to work. I lost myself in the music of Tool in my CD player and enjoyed the different perspective on the world from 37,000 feet.

Yeah, I know, it seems odd that Operation:Mindcrime is advocating non-violence and prayer. It comes down to this, where did violence get Nikki in the CD? It got him hard time and hell-bent on revenge. I am advocating real changes, and those are rarely accomplished from the barrel of a gun.