I try to steet clear of negative blog postings. I suspect I’m going to get some negative responses to this one. But, if you can’t speak your mind on your own blog when can you? And yes, I did steal this title from a Toby Keith song in case you were wondering.
I’ll warn you right now- this blog is about 9/11. If you are easily upset by this topic you would probably want to leave now.
OK you’re still with me. So here we go.
First, I am not in favor of making 9/11 a national holiday. I don’t think we should give the persons/ group/ etc responsible for the attacks that much credit. The bigger deal we make over it the more publicity these people get. Why would we want to do that? Why do we want to encourage others to follow that path in hopes of obtaining similar glory?
Second, I think we can all agree that freedom of religion is one of the core values this country was based on. But yet it’s suddenly become OK to tell people where they can and can’t build places of worship? I wonder how many of the people who are against the New York City mosque have ever met anyone who practices Islam and had a chance to really talk to them about their beliefs? I have. And I think if everyone else had too we as a country might see things a little differently
I know that not everyone is going to agree with me on this blog good round. And that’s OK. I am an adult and I can have civil disagreements with people and still be friends- good friends- with them. I hope if you are reading this you are able to do that too. And that ability to disagree and discuss differences of opinion IS one of the great things about being an American!
When I heard how upset people were becoming over the location of a mosque, it broke my heart in a way. People seem to forget that no matter what the religion is, there are always going to be extremists. We're so quick to judge a group of people based on appearance, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, age, weight….the list goes on and on. While I know and understand I can't influence the mass majority, I know I can raise my children to be tolerant and respectful of all people and hope they continue to teach tolerance with their own future families.
~Kristina
Even though we disagree, I appreciate a few things here. First, that you realize friends can disagree on such things and not have it cost them their friendship and second, that you're not taking the wacky, extremist view and telling me that I'm uneducated and therefore, shouldn't be allowed to have children, vote or gather to worship.
That being said, I'm not saying that they shouldn't ever build this mosque, but I'm saying that we should be sensitive to the fact that thousands of people died down at Ground Zero on 9/11 and to their families, that is sacred ground. We wouldn't expect to build a shrine to the Japanese Army over Pearl Harbor, would we? And that's not because we're being ignorant or being intolerant, but we're being sensitive to the fact that some people's remains are still there and therefore, it's a "cemetary" of sorts for their families.
While I can see your point, I just see things a bit differently and am glad we can still be friends at the end of it!
Unfortunately, the teachings of tolerance and respect seem to be lacking in this area of the states.. And anymore, many areas. Prejudice and intolerance are not a North Iowa thing, it's become more common, and is actually the norm in several areas. We're not supposed to believe in individual rights, or belief's. It's either you're with me, or you're not. It's amazing to me that religion and states are supposed to be separate, but only in some things. And unfortunately, patriotism is becoming more and more of a let's fly the flag, and god bless the USA. Hopefully, people will come to remember that we are a melting pot, and hopefully always will be. There will always be extremists in every culture and religion, but that is not the norm.