tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post4203529608627605843..comments2024-03-24T19:55:32.537-05:00Comments on The View from This Seat: The Saint and the SultanLKSeathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-54620948917456064782010-09-25T22:59:55.790-05:002010-09-25T22:59:55.790-05:00As an opener, I would recommend "The Kite Run...As an opener, I would recommend "The Kite Runner" - either the book or the movie which my wife and I watched this evening. It makes another people and culture real, with real troubles of their own.<br />Because much of it is set in the United States, it highlights what my friend Damon asks - Do we engage people different from us (or even our neighbors) when we encounter them in the market place of life? A smile? A hello? Al-Salam Aliakum to the Muslim, Gemcho to some Hindu, Shalom to a Jew, Uhali gani to a Bantu. Just a warm smile. He says most immigrants interviewed feel separated, cast out, and have never been engaged by an American in a friendly way.<br /><br />I have an Uzbek acquaintance, a refugee to the US, who fought the Taliban during the Soviet invasion. I grew up near a Punjabi ex-patriot in another country. A smile, a hand, a listening ear go a long way toward friendship with average people like ourselves who seek to live life (including our neighbors).<br /><br />We had a Japanese family living about two blocks from us in our last town. I regret that we did not know them better.<br /><br />I am grateful to my Muslim and Jewish and Latino (and other) friends for inviting me into their cultural celebrations.<br /><br />I wish them all Salaam, Shalom, Pax.<br /><br />Christ called us to love our enemies. Theses are not our enemies. (I have yet to learn to love my enemy - may that be granted.)<br /><br />This blog challenges me to think (and sometimes act).1sojournernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-58626200809598037012010-09-25T15:49:24.543-05:002010-09-25T15:49:24.543-05:00I recently discovered a PBS series on Jews in Amer...I recently discovered a PBS series on Jews in America. I suspect it is not new, because it is on the second channel, not the primary. Looking back over hundreds of years, clear back to the first Jews arriving in Dutch New Amsterdam, a fascinating and frequently painful process of mutual discovery and adjustment has been taking place between America's Jews and Gentiles. Yet, in the long run, both groups have benefits greatly from the process, even as each has retained much of its original identity.<br /><br />Leroy outlines his perspective on the decades long peace process between America and Japan. We have Toyotas. They have baseball. Not everything is ironed out, but we expect a great future between our countries.<br /><br />Now we are a few years into a heightened relationship with Islam. We both have been around a lot longer, but hardly noticed each other for quite a while. The road ahead appears neither quick, nor easy. Yet the road behind says we can do it. We need the courage to clearly face a future where both we and they will be profoundly changed. We need the courage to believe we can be true to our ideals and our heritage even as we make profound changes. We need the courage to believe that Islam will change, too. We need the honesty to admit we need quite a few changes, anyway. We need the faith to let God lead us. <br /><br />When Christian America opened its heart and mind, just a little, it was rewarded by the likes of Irving Berlin, Albert Einstein and Dear Abby. Now there is a challenge, for both Christian and Jewish America, to open, even if just a little, to Islam (yes, even in America). In centuries gone by the western world received great gifts from Islam. It will not happen just like it happened between Christians and Jews, or between Americans and Japanese. Each time is different, yet the same. We can start by dreaming, and praying. Peace is out there, waiting to bloom. It took nearly two thousand years between Christians and Jews. Perhaps America and Islam can do it a little faster.Craig Dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00033176451913108084noreply@blogger.com