Wednesday, February 3, 2010

What are we doing?

Really, world. What are we doing? I just read an MSNBC article that told me US intelligence and security folks are "certain" of an other Al-Qaida attack within the next six months. It said that these terrorist groups like mass casualties, and if they can screw with the economy somehow, even better.

*Deep, cleansing breaths.*

You know, my inclination is to be angry. It's to be disgusted and outraged, actually, where my typical reaction is more peaceful. See, even if US intelligence is wrong (which, of course, has happened before), the very idea that there are people out there who are so zealously religious, so ragingly obsessed with my spiritual persuasions, with the details of how I live my life, that they want to punish me for not sharing their beliefs makes me want to just scream.

And you know what else? Al-Qaida is an example of an extreme... but all extremes start small. Do we even see, right here in our own society, how these things begin? We have examples of crazed mentalities such as theirs right here in our own country. The hate groups who use soldiers' funerals as a means to bash the gay community, who bomb abortion clinics or federal buildings, who claim that any country that suffers the aftermath of a natural disaster has pissed off some televangelist's version of God and so brought it on themselves. Sound familiar?

I am not a preachy person. Even this kind of post is a rare one for me. I don't tell others what they should or should not believe because, as far as I'm concerned, we are all here to learn that on our own... no religion and no rule book is going to teach you everything you need to understand about this existence. That comes from your heart, and a lifetime of contemplation and thoughtfulness. It's a personal path, this life, and I don't think anyone should foist their own journey onto anyone else's shoulders.

But, there are those who do want to do just that. And it boggles my mind, absolutely BOGGLES my mind, that they feel they have the right to invade someone else's country, sacred space, peace, and shove their fear-driven thinking down anyone else's throat. That kind of mentality is so far removed from my perception of what God would want that I have to wonder how such madness comes to be.

I don't want to become what saddens me most. But how do you reconcile such a desire with the automatic and intense anger you feel toward those who commit acts of senseless, selfish, crazy violence? Spirit help me, I don't know. I just don't know.

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