Boston. My heart breaks for all those affected. It was an outright act of evil and hatred. Egypt. Nigeria. Iran. Iraq, Israel, Palestine, North Korea and I could go on and on and on. Bombs planted in Boston because of hatred. People killed in abortion clinics because of hatred. People killed in churches because of hatred. Supposed Christians causing disturbances at funerals for soldiers and trying to disrupt memorials for children killed in Newtown, Connecticut, because of hatred. 9/11, an ultimate act of hatred.
Everybody hates everybody. There is so much hatred in this world that it makes me sick and makes me cry to watch the news or read the paper. Everyone seems to hate the Americans. Period. As an American I do not have any animosity against any one country or group, though I may not understand some things they do but it saddens me to say that that naive ideology is now changing.
I do not give one hoot if you call him God, G-d, Allah, whatever, HE does NOT promote evil nor death. All three of the major religions in this world Christians, Jewish and Muslim recognize Moses (Musa in Islam) as a great prophet and that is the one prophet that God gave the 10 Commandments to. Remember them? THOU SHALT NOT KILL is one of them. That goes for EVERYBODY.
Do you know why I am really angry this week? I will tell you why. My first encounter with terrorism was in 1988 when a friend of mine was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland. That shattered my world. I was raised in a small town, but never knew hate or racial profiling or racism until that fateful day. I used to dream of going to Egypt to see the wonderful historical sites and the pyramids. To visit the Persia that I had read about as a young girl with its rich and beautiful culture, cuisine, rugs and jewelry and visit the marketplaces. To walk the streets of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, sacred ground to not only my own religion but the others that I mentioned. To visit the Ark which supposedly rests on Mt. Ararat in Turkey or even visit Petra, which is just so incredible and alluring and mysterious all at once.
I am an advocate for feeding the poor all over the world and adopted babies to feed, starting when I was a little tyke in the 3rd grade. Even though my family was not wealthy I was still very cognizant of the starving children of Biafra and India. My poor mother and other parents sat through quite a few plays in my backyard that we charged them admission for and then donated the money. I still support the building of schools and churches in Nigeria, even when we have limited resources of our own some weeks.
I remember just prior to 9/11 sitting through a 5 hour mini-series on PBS about Islam and finding it fascinating. They had a similar series about the Jewish in America, which was also quite interesting. One of the most poignant moments though was sitting in my living room with a young man watching the t.v. He is a Muslim, had no place to go and I took him in for a few months. We talked just a little about religion and though he was not practicing his faith he said something to me that gave me pause. He said to me, *so you believe all that crap that they taught you?* He was actually stoned at the time and probably does not remember it, but I do and thought to myself why are you here in my home instead of your own? Why would nobody else take you in except for me? I did not say anything in response to him but did continue to house, feed and care for him for a number of months after that. He was a troubled youth and continues to be one as an adult now.
So why am I angry this week? Because now as an adult my eyes are wide open and I do not like what I see. Whatever point the terrorists are trying to make is being lost on me. If they are trying to make us just hate them back mission accomplished. I hate to tell them this but our government does whatever the heck they want and probably half of our population does not agree with it. Millions of people that live here are just trying to keep a roof over their heads, feed their families and school their kids just like the rest of the world. News flash. America is not made up of Kardashians and Honey Boo Boos. There are also millions of people here that actually have and live by morals and decency because of their religious affiliations, whatever it may be.
With each passing act of violence my kind, caring heart, I fear, is being hardened and growing colder every day. As a devout follower of Jesus, I am called to love everyone, including my enemies, and to pray for them. Therefore, I am called to pray for that baby-faced 19 year old, that planted bombs killing and maiming people and that now lies in a hospital bed being cared for, and protected by, those same Americans that he tried to kill. I will do it with a heavier heart, but that is what Jesus would want me to do and that is how I live MY life, according to his word and that of His Father. May MY God judge him accordingly. I will pray a little harder though for Martin, Lu, Krystal and Sean, the survivors and their families. God bless Boston and God bless America.
Peace,
Mare
Everybody hates everybody. There is so much hatred in this world that it makes me sick and makes me cry to watch the news or read the paper. Everyone seems to hate the Americans. Period. As an American I do not have any animosity against any one country or group, though I may not understand some things they do but it saddens me to say that that naive ideology is now changing.
I do not give one hoot if you call him God, G-d, Allah, whatever, HE does NOT promote evil nor death. All three of the major religions in this world Christians, Jewish and Muslim recognize Moses (Musa in Islam) as a great prophet and that is the one prophet that God gave the 10 Commandments to. Remember them? THOU SHALT NOT KILL is one of them. That goes for EVERYBODY.
Do you know why I am really angry this week? I will tell you why. My first encounter with terrorism was in 1988 when a friend of mine was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland. That shattered my world. I was raised in a small town, but never knew hate or racial profiling or racism until that fateful day. I used to dream of going to Egypt to see the wonderful historical sites and the pyramids. To visit the Persia that I had read about as a young girl with its rich and beautiful culture, cuisine, rugs and jewelry and visit the marketplaces. To walk the streets of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, sacred ground to not only my own religion but the others that I mentioned. To visit the Ark which supposedly rests on Mt. Ararat in Turkey or even visit Petra, which is just so incredible and alluring and mysterious all at once.
I am an advocate for feeding the poor all over the world and adopted babies to feed, starting when I was a little tyke in the 3rd grade. Even though my family was not wealthy I was still very cognizant of the starving children of Biafra and India. My poor mother and other parents sat through quite a few plays in my backyard that we charged them admission for and then donated the money. I still support the building of schools and churches in Nigeria, even when we have limited resources of our own some weeks.
I remember just prior to 9/11 sitting through a 5 hour mini-series on PBS about Islam and finding it fascinating. They had a similar series about the Jewish in America, which was also quite interesting. One of the most poignant moments though was sitting in my living room with a young man watching the t.v. He is a Muslim, had no place to go and I took him in for a few months. We talked just a little about religion and though he was not practicing his faith he said something to me that gave me pause. He said to me, *so you believe all that crap that they taught you?* He was actually stoned at the time and probably does not remember it, but I do and thought to myself why are you here in my home instead of your own? Why would nobody else take you in except for me? I did not say anything in response to him but did continue to house, feed and care for him for a number of months after that. He was a troubled youth and continues to be one as an adult now.
So why am I angry this week? Because now as an adult my eyes are wide open and I do not like what I see. Whatever point the terrorists are trying to make is being lost on me. If they are trying to make us just hate them back mission accomplished. I hate to tell them this but our government does whatever the heck they want and probably half of our population does not agree with it. Millions of people that live here are just trying to keep a roof over their heads, feed their families and school their kids just like the rest of the world. News flash. America is not made up of Kardashians and Honey Boo Boos. There are also millions of people here that actually have and live by morals and decency because of their religious affiliations, whatever it may be.
With each passing act of violence my kind, caring heart, I fear, is being hardened and growing colder every day. As a devout follower of Jesus, I am called to love everyone, including my enemies, and to pray for them. Therefore, I am called to pray for that baby-faced 19 year old, that planted bombs killing and maiming people and that now lies in a hospital bed being cared for, and protected by, those same Americans that he tried to kill. I will do it with a heavier heart, but that is what Jesus would want me to do and that is how I live MY life, according to his word and that of His Father. May MY God judge him accordingly. I will pray a little harder though for Martin, Lu, Krystal and Sean, the survivors and their families. God bless Boston and God bless America.
Peace,
Mare
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