Reconciliation and Being the Bigger Person

I have been reading a lot lately about a controversy brewing in New York City. A Muslim group wants to erect a mosque a few blocks away from Ground Zero. Their thinking is that the space can become a place for others to learn about the Muslim religion. They hope that others can learn that the few that flew planes into the Twin Towers were part of a radical group and that the Muslim religion itself denounces what those few did. Others in New York see it as desecrating sacred ground. The area should forever be dedicated only to those who died and those who were left behind. Muslims in the area are an affront to what occurred on September 11, 2001 and are just adding insult to injury, to put it mildly.

I, for one, did not lose anyone on that fateful day. I know of people who survived and walked out of Manhattan to New Jersey while loved ones feared for them. But, except for the overall horror of the day, I was not personally touched by the events. Even so, I have difficulty with the hardliners that do not want to accept the mosque. It seems to me that another kind of terrorism is occurring here. The events of September 11th occurred because few people felt that they were right and needed to rid the world of oppressors who force their ideology on others. The terrorists believed that they were acting in the name of all they hold to be right. And it is the same with those who do not want the mosque near Ground Zero. They are blinded by their pain and their grief, understandably, or are unwilling to view the implications of denying the mosque. They are trying to rid their life of what they view to be wrong in the name of everything they believe is right. But in all actuality, they are practicing another type of terrorism and they are continuing the prejudice that leads to more physical acts of terrorism.

An effective way to heal after a terrible loss is to forgive those who inflicted the pain upon you. This difficult process is often accomplished through learning about those who committed the act and trying to understand their reasoning. And although we know about the thinking of the terrorists themselves, many people have determined that all Muslims are radical. But that is like saying all Christians want to bomb abortion centers. By learning about the rest of the Muslim religion, we can begin to understand how radical the few terrorists were. We can also understand how our own behaviors are viewed throughout the world. We might be able to even reach across the ever-growing divide to realize that "they" are people, just like us.

To get to this place though, the people who are arguing against the Mosque need to reconsider. They need to see that a group of people are holding out an olive branch, that they want to come in peace and show that not all Muslims are trying to kill Americans. It is time that we meet them halfway, accept the olive branch and return one of our own. It is time we stop the prejudice and learn about their culture. The proposed mosque would be a wonderful way to do this. Throughout our history, Americans have attempted to take the high road first. This time, it is crucial that we do before we find ourselves more alienated because of our desire to alienate.