Friday, October 12, 2007

This morning as I was taking Caleb to seminary, I turned the radio to NPR (just like Dad used to when he took me to seminary all those years ago) and heard once again about Iraq. I am so tired of hearing the same thing day after day. I turned the radio off and reflected on the fact that if we just understood that we are all children of God and if we really understood what that meant that many of our current problems would not exist. This idea was once again brought to my mind as I rode my bike to work today. Today is the last day of Ramadan. For those of you who are not familiar with Islam (i.e. Dad :)), Ramadan is a month of fasting. Muslims are not allowed to eat or drink from sun up to sun down and are expected to donate to charities or others in need. As I rode my bike past the Iowa City mosque this morning the mosque was crowded. I have never seen anybody there before but people were moving along the streets towards the mosque like moths to my porch light. I feel fortunate to live in Iowa City where Jews and Muslims work side by side, where Mormons and Baptists are friendly (usually) with each other, where African, Mexican, Chinese, and American students sit side by side learning that we are not as different as we look. I hope that my children will grow up knowing that just because someone looks or believes differently than they do that that person is really just like they are with the same hopes and dreams. I am certainly not naive enough to believe that we will all be one big happy human family any time before the second coming but here's hoping.

1 comment:

Lokodi said...

thanks for the post jason. i have the same kind of feelings quite often. not to rag on utah, but i have a hard time living there because i feel so similar to everyone else. i get a little bored with the same point of views, same blonde hair, blue eyed people. that's not a bad thing, but it's nice to talk to all different kinds of people who come from all different walks of life. i think for me it helps me to appriciate who i am and what i know to be true. i met a really nice muslim man and his two little twins at the park the other day. he was very friendly and we had a very long nice talk about his culture. it opened my eyes to a lot of things. he listened to my beliefs, and i to his. i really appriciated that moment.

lindsey