Friday, April 9, 2010

Where's the Love?

I recently received a few e-mails that were labled “Important”, “Interesting” or “Must ‎Pass On”. They were from people that I trust and love and I’m 100% sure they were sent ‎with my safety and others safety in mind. These people are not racists or bigots except ‎they, like all of us, have blind spots that they might now know about or understand. I took ‎the content of the emails with a grain of salt because they were somewhat emotionally ‎charged and targeted towards a group of people that I’ve come to know and love. If you ‎can’t figure it out, I’m talk about the Muslims and Saudi people. I want to take a minute ‎and tell you what kinds of people the Saudis are give you a little room for pause. ‎


The 9/11 Hijackers came from Saudi Arabia. Osama Bin Laden is Saudi. The Khobar ‎Tower Bombings were done by Saudis. Does that make all Saudis bad people? NO!!! ‎These people were a radical few that DO NOT represent all of the Saudis. If you believe ‎that they represent all Saudis then you must believe that Tim Mcvey, the Unibomber, ‎George Bush and Barrack Obama represent all Americans in their way of thinking, and ‎the last time I checked, I belive that most Americans believe that Tim McVey was a nut ‎case, the Uni-Bomber is a lone freak and let’s not even talk about George and Barry!‎

Two weeks ago I went and had an evening with a new friend who took me to hang out ‎with some of his friends and watch soccer and eat. You couldn’t find a better group of ‎guys. Young, intelligent, curious, open minded value based, forward thinking and ‎desirous to learn. I had to leave early and they all asked why I wasn’t staying for dinner. ‎They wanted to feed me and wanted to keep talking. We laughed, we talked religion ‎‎(they didn’t call me an infadel or a damed soul), they asked me about my faith they ‎accepted me for who I was and didn’t judge me based on Barry or George. We shared ‎values and ideas about family, life and God. I can tell you we didn’t agree on everything, ‎but they brought me into their home and welcomed me. Who could ask for more?‎

Another example of the wonderful people that I live amongst!‎

I had the opportunity to work with a group of employee’s for a full straight week from ‎every corner of the Kingdom. They were so hungry for good knowledge and they were so ‎ready for the knowledge that when the time came to learn they learned. They didn’t judge ‎the instructor because I was American! They didn’t hate me because I spoke English and ‎no Arabic. They welcomed me into their midst and accepted me and asked me to teach ‎them. They are 100% my equals. I’m not better than them and they are not better than ‎me, but together we are better because of the experience. ‎

I work directly with three Muslims who are the most wonderful example of true God ‎fearing men, who love their families and strive to live a good life. They are very much ‎like us in that they are worried every day about their kids, their spouse, their ability to ‎make a living for them, their future and their eternal progression and more. ‎

These people speak a different language and practice a different religion but they are not ‎that different from us. So here is my challenge to you. Stop watching the news and ‎believing what the the Media or our Government tells us about Muslims. They are good ‎people. Stop reading and then passing on the non-sense that we hear about Muslims and ‎the Middle East. We are falling victim to the same trap that many Saudi’s are falling for. ‎Over here you see people who look at pictures of war, which invovlve mutilated bodies, ‎dead families and much more and they believe that it was/is the US military because that ‎is what the Media tells them. Come on how silly is that. Get out and start making friends ‎with the Muslims you know, greet those from the Middle East with an open heart not a ‎skeptical heart. Let’s help them rescue their own religion that has been hijacked by ‎radicals just like what the Christian fanatics would like to do to us. ‎

For those of you who are saying, “Evan’s gone crazy”, I’m still a proud American. I still ‎love my country, am firm in my faith and yes I’m still conservative in my beliefs and I’m ‎not a Barry follower. LOL, but I’m also getting away from the media that is so ‎calculating and I’m talking about all sides even my favorite media outlets. Wow what an ‎admission. LOL

Well if you are still reading, then you found some sense to what I was saying. I hope to ‎see you again on this blog. ‎

Ev

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Ev I couldn't agree more with you. I remember working IDS, and came into contact with a few interesting people. I marveled at them, and began to understand a different world. I can only imagine your experience being so much more intense!! I love reading your post!! Miss you & love you tons!!

Unknown said...

Well said!

I was in Bahrain and I was taken aback by the people there. There were a lot of Saudi's there as well. I realized my prejudices were unwarranted. You couldn't have said it any better.

Kakra (friend of Aaron Watson)