12 September 2013

Remembering the Whole Truth of 9/11


September 11, 2001… It's a date etched forever in our national memory… a date it would be shameful not to honor. So many people died that day, people of all nationalities… of all races… of all faiths. We forget that. We remember the day, but only for a select group of victims… only the ones that matter, the Remembered. We conveniently omit those "others," even the heroes. They are the Forgotten.

We mourn the losses of 9/11 and try to comfort each other and the those who lost loved ones. We assure them and each other of the validity of our grief, of our right to mourn. Who mourns for the Muslim dead? Who comforts the Muslim mourners in their grief? Muslim mourners have become the silent, forgotten victims of 9/11, dehumanized and victimized daily by a rhetoric that makes them inconvenient at best, vilifies them as somehow responsible at worst, in all ways ignoring their loss… denying their right to mourn.

From CNN
 You won't find Mohammed Hamdan among the names of the first responders that etched in a wall at the 9/11 memorial in New York. But on the day of the 9/11 attacks, the 23-year-old certified EMT and onetime NYPD police cadet skipped his job at a university research lab to rush to the World Trade Center. Not long after, his family posted Hamdan's picture on a wall of the missing. Six months later, his remains were found in - 34 parts. "He did not stop to wonder are they Christian or Muslims or are they Jews or their ethnicity or their color." Mrs. Talat says of her son's actions on 9/11. "It's just humanity."

From NY Times
"A Nation Challenged: Portraits of Grief: The Victims…" comes the small story of another forgotten hero, a Muslim from Yemen, Abdu Malahi. "On Sept. 11, Mr. Malahi ignored warnings to flee the building and stayed to help evacuate the hotel guests."

The Muslims who marched in DC are Muslims in AMERICA. It was the WORLD Trade Center. Many Muslims died that day too. The tragedy of 9/11 happened to them too.

From USA TodayYet 9/11 had more Muslim victims (about 60 of nearly 3,000 killed) than terrorist hijackers (19).

They included an assistant bank vice president and a cook, a commodities trader and a waiter, an insurance executive, a security guard and an IT guy.

They included immigrants from all over: Sarah Khan, a cafeteria manager from Guyana; Syed Abdul Fatha, a copy machine operator from India; Zuhtu Ibis, a computer technician from Turkey. There was Michael Baksh, a Pakistani immigrant on his first day of work at the insurance firm Marsh & McLennan, and Abdoul Karim Traore, who had risen at 3 a.m. that day to deliver USA TODAY before reporting to work as a cook at Windows on the World restaurant. Karamo Trerra, a computer tech, was ready to celebrate his fourth wedding anniversary on Sept. 12.

11 September 2013

Bikers' Ride Never Denied


There's so much in our country we SHOULD be focused on… So much wrong with our politicians -- Republican and Democrat alike. Why must we be bogged down by FALSE protests? These knee-jerk reactions do nothing except tear down our country and destroy the sense of community we should be building. 

The latest divisive, HATE MONGERING Facebook spam post is the numerous and vitriolic posts about 2 million bikers being denied a "No Stop" permit to ride in DC. My Facebook wall has been overwhelmed by posts about this --  sowing dissension and hatred. Ignoring fact and history.

We are being led into bearing false witness every time we share, every time someone reads the post on our Facebook wall, even if they're only reading someone else's post while scanning our wall. Scripture tell us: Exodus 23:1 NIV - Do not spread false reports. Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witnessProverbs 19:5 NIV - A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who pours out lies will not go free. Proverbs 21:28 NIV - A false witness will perish, and whoever listens to him will be destroyed forever. As Christians, we are called to support and speak the truth: Ephesians 4:15 NIV - Let our lives lovingly express the truth in all things speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly. As stated so eloquently by Pastor Adrian Rogers, "It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, then falsehood that comforts and then kills. It is not love and it is not friendship if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling thetruth than to be loved for telling a lie."

Yet again… They WERE NOT denied a permit to ride. Please, support their ride -- it is their right. But, calm down people. They WERE NOT -- that's right -- NOT denied a permit to ride. They were ONLY denied a permit allowing them to pass through all the traffic signals and stop signs without stopping -- i.e. a "Not Stop" permit. No one cares about the truth. 

Speaking of TRUTH -- Muslims did not bring down those planes -- Extremist terrorists with an agenda to sow hatred and dissension, fear and mistrust (quite successfully -- obviously) brought down those planes. Those particular extremists just happened to claim to be Muslim. 

Too many terrorists who just happen to claim to be Christian have had this same goal -- just not with such spectacularly horrific footage and media blitz coverage. Check this article: : http://www.salon.com/2013/08/03/the_10_worst_examples_of_christian_or_far_right_terrorism_partner

And this one: 

Here’s another article on the subject:

Please, let's get educated about the issues before spamming the world with erroneous posts. Let's stop helping the hate mongers.