Muslims

I see a lot of hatred towards Muslims all over the internet these days. I don't like it and everyone needs to work towards ending this. Muslims are people. Muslims have thoughts and hopes. Muslims have a right to be heard.

I understand why a lot of people aren't too happy with Muslims these days. There are some who have gotten out of hand. They have taken up radical fundamentalism and because of that, have caused harm to a lot of people. They don't want to accept the differences in others and don't see strength in diversity. They are using religious doctrine to be intolerant and spread hate.

This is not acceptable.

The thing is, they are not the first group to do this. the Ku Klux Klan drew its presumed authority from the Holy Bible. They used words intended to guide people to live a better life to justify hateful and malicious acts. I don't think all Christians were painted with the brush of the this evil group. All Muslims shouldn't be either.

I can understand that if you don't know a Muslim how you could be fearful or angry. It's easy to have those feelings towards the unknown but the vast majority are regular people who go about their day just like a Christian or a Jew. They are concerned about providing for their family. They complain about the weather. They have hopes and dreams.

This hatred needs to disappear.

The only way is to understand each other, to talk to each other, to learn from each other. I'm not talking about sitting down and breaking out the grade school compare and contrast model. I'm talking about getting to know them on a human level. It's about finding out why they cheer for their team is or how they like to spend their leisure time. If you do it, they will also start to understand you. They will see how you tick. They will see what drives you crazy and what doesn't really matter.

All this will help the majority of Muslims bring about positive change within their community. If everyone can see that everyone else has the same types of hopes, dreams, and fears then the barrier will come down.

It will take time but we have to start the journey soon and we can't give up when it doesn't go our way.