We’re human. Subject to all the vagracies that go along with that. We get our feelings hurt. We get defensive and competative. We have a born and bred desire -need in fact- to protect ourselves and our own.
It’s natural for us to react to situations where we feel threatened. And those reactions, are not always what we would want them to be. In many cases, days or weeks after, as we look back, we wish that we would have been able to handle the situation better.
But in the heat of the moment–we just….react.
It’s natural after all. But we should try to do better.
We should try to do better.
We should, as a people and as a nation, work towards the tolerance that has made us the greatest and best example of a nation the world has ever seen. When faced with the natural reaction to fear or the unknow, we should acknowledge, contemplate, seek to understand and then act.
Our actions should be the best. The example.
When faced with division, we should strive for INclusion.
When faced with discrimination, we should strive for acceptance.
And that’s why the idea of a church in Florida deciding to move forward with the buring of the Koran is so despicable:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The leader of a small Florida church that espouses anti-Islam philosophy said Wednesday he was determined to go through with his plan to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11, despite pressure from the White House, religious leaders and others to call it off.
“We are still determined to it, yes,” the Rev. Terry Jones told the CBS Early Show.
To those outside the Muslim faith, the Koran is a book, paper and glue. Printed, bound and manufactured in a printing press much the same as a newspaper. However, to those within the Muslim faith, the Koran represents the Diety made physical.
The good Reverand certainly has the right to obtain copies of books. Build a fire. And burn them. It IS his right. But it IS wrong.
In much the same way that people feel building a mosque at ground zero is a right; but insensitive, so too is this plan to burn these Holy Books.