Is it over yet?

This morning on the news I heard wonderful news...only 12 more days until the election. Whoohoo! Only 12 more days until all these insipid commercials are over...for a while anyway.

I'm sure there are some good candidates out there somewhere. I'm sure there are even some I'd want to vote for. Unfortunately it's so hard to tell. Both sides complain about the mud-slinging and the name-calling...and then start right in with it themselves. They point out that their opponents aren't addressing the issues, but by the time they finish complaining...Oops! Times up. Got to tell you I approve a message I just gave MYSELF! See, I'm in Missouri and if the candidate doesn't tell me s/he approves the message, I might think that a PAC used some kind of giant, life-like puppet. I must be told that the person talking, the candidate, approves his/her own message. {sigh}

In other news, a journalist that I used to enjoy listening to on Fox (back when I was throwing away money on satellite TV) has been fired from his job at a government funded radio station. I enjoy listening to that station sometimes. It didn't really matter if I agreed with what he was saying or not. He was someone you didn't have to agree to appreciate his insight. You learned a lot from listening to him.

I have to say that I'm not uncomfortable on a plane with Muslim passengers. I've spent the last several years living in the Middle East. Most of the time, when I was flying somewhere, a large portion of the trip was with a plane full of Muslims and my family and I were more often than not, the only ones who weren't. However, we can not lose our common sense and forget that that the murderers of 9/11 were Muslim. Granted they were radical. They were not in step with what probably most Muslims (and certainly the more moderate ones) believe. However, they were still Muslims. The screwball pastor in Florida who wanted to burn a Quran on the anniversary of 9/11 is a hideous example of a Christian, but he's still a Christian.

Do we have reason to fear Muslims? Unfortunately, due to the acts of some, we do. It's a shame really. I made wonderful friends over the last few years who are Muslim. When I hear of someone feeling nervous when he sees people who are obviously Muslim on an airplane, I completely understand. He has every right to feel nervous. We all do. The terrorists on 9/11 weren't Moonies, people!

Compare it to a woman whose raped by a man of a different ethnicity. For years she feels fear when she encounters other men of his ethnicity. But whose at fault? The woman who had the audacity to be a rape victim? The man who had the audacity to behave like an animal? Unfortunately there are idiots out there who would point at her and shame her for feeling that way. How dare she be so prejudiced?! While she knows that there is nothing inherent in that man's ethnic group for her to fear all of them, thanks to that ONE man, she now has to deal with the fear plus the guilt for feeling that way. Thanks to him. We now have a reason to fear Muslims...thanks to the idiots of 9/11.

I have a dear friend who has recently moved to the west and she's stopped wearing hijab due to the reactions she gets with it on. It's unfair that what should be a great time for her is shadowed by the fear and suspicion of people who haven't even bothered to get to know her. She's a wonderful lady and an excellent teacher and anyone who can count her as a friend is lucky indeed. But people saw her in hijab and avoided her. Now they talk to her and sometimes misunderstand her name and they think she's a westerner herself...until they hear her Arabic last name. Then the wall comes down and she's avoided again.

Our president would have us think that Muslims are the most enlightened people in the world. That the rest of us pale in comparison to them. Others would have us think that Muslims are evil incarnate and we should never trust them and allowing them a room to pray while at work or at school is just the beginning of a slippery slope into you-know-where. Both are wrong. Muslims are people. They have families, jobs, tuition to pay, homes to pay for, cars to fill with gas, and legitimate reasons for being on a plane. Some dress, speak, and act just like any other westerner on the street. Others maintain their more traditional dress and have a more noticeable accent. Whose the terrorist? Whose the Christian?

Yes, whose the Christian? Did you know that there are MILLIONS of Arabic-speaking Christians in the world? Did you know that the majority of Muslims aren't even of Arabic origin and don't even speak Arabic? Did you know that Christian Kuwaitis (and others parts of the region) dress just like their Muslim counterparts? So how do you tell them apart?

You can't. You can't tell by looking. You tell by listening. By paying attention. You do THAT by talking to them and getting to know them. You don't do it by staring rudely and avoiding them. You welcome the newcomers to your neighborhood, regardless of where they're from, and get to know them. In other words, treat them the way you'd want to be treated if you packed up and moved to their country...which I've done before.

I've sat on the floor of my Bedouin neighbor's apartment, drinking tea, and watching my little ones run around and my little girl having make-up applied by some young ladies who treated her like a giant walking, talking doll. I've gone to parties, women-only, where I've partied harder than I've ever partied here and there was NO alcohol in sight. I've been to a farm where we cooked out, sat in a tent in the back yard (complete with big screen and other amenities-though not used that night), and laughed and talked for hours. How did that happen? They invited me. They didn't avoid me because I was different. It was because I was different that I was invited and welcomed and they wanted to show me hospitality. They always asked me, over and over, how did I like their country? They wanted me to like it. They wanted me to be happy there.

OK, somehow I started a post about stupid campaign commercials and ended up ranting and raving about...something different. It's just been one of those days, I guess. Actually what I've posted about has been churning around in my head for a while now. Just kind of let it all hang out today. For anyone who can't decide if I'm conservative or liberal, I'm definitely conservative. However, let no one think that means there's never a place for political correctness. Lack of political correctness, by today's standard, lost an excellent journalist his job. However while what he said wasn't politically correct, it was correct. Avoiding a young woman, new to your country, because she's wearing hijab or has an Arabic name, isn't only politically incorrect...it's just plain wrong. There's a huge difference.