Yesterday in my post A caller, one comment caught me:
“Much nicer than Islam… convert or die”
The one thing we on this earth, have in common, is that we are HUMAN.
Not all the same colour, Race or Creed. Temperaments vary as do our views.
Just like the fruit on the trees, sometimes the rosiest apple is rotten at the core while the bruised misshaped one can be the sweetest.
The church I was baptised into, claimed to be ‘the ONE holy Catholic Church’. We were brought up with the idea that the aim of the church was: To convert all the Heathens across the world who were not as fortunate as us. In primary/Junior school, we were constantly encouraged to bring in money for ‘the Black Babies’, read the Missions. Where that money went we have no record, we were never told, just asked for more.
Some so fortunate young children of ‘the ONE holy Catholic Church’ were raped, abused and or even allowed to die at the hands of Priests and nuns. before being secretly buried in unmarked graves.
Around the corner from where I grew up, was a St Mary’s Asylum laundry run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of Refuge. The Asylum laundry ceased operation in 1991 and when the Sisters decided to sell off some of the land, they applied to the Department of the Environment for permission to exhume the remains of 133 women from unmarked graves. In fact the remains of 154 women were eventually recovered, cremated and then re-interred at Glasnevin Cemetery. You can read about it here.
NOT ALL MUSLIMS ARE MURDERERS!
Just as in my example above about the so called religious who were part of the church I was a member of, there are some bad eggs among the followers of Allah, who at the hands of corrupt and twisted leaders, carry out atrocities’.
Even without mention of religion, politicians give permission for military interference in countries other than their own sending young men and now women to kill and maim. I am not taking sides, but just look at the results of Vietnam, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Iraq x 2 and more recently Afghanistan. Each person killed was someone’s son/grandson/partner/family member! Flesh and blood possibly now in an unmarked grave like the innocents in the convent ground in High Park.
Then we have the young men acting alone who walk into a school or public gathering place and shoot those around before turning the gun on themselves. We saw it in Scotland and many times across the United States of America. There are bad apples all around us.
Do others see us by our actions as bad apples?
Rant over, time to smooth that chip on my shoulder. Have a good day!
Well said. I shared such an upbringing but have left it behind me. Not all the baggage, mind you.
Yes, these happenings need to be looked at from a purely human point of view. I think it was Lloyd George who remarked that if the people at home had the faintest idea of what it was like at the front [WWI] there would be no soldiers forthcoming to fight the war.
Thank God for alternative media these days. But the MSM and authorities in general are really scary.
Greetings.
Póló, welcome stranger you have been missed. You came to mind over Christmas, as I drove in your direction!
We have no inkling of what men endured during WW1 or indeed any other war. The modern practice of referring to a place of conflict as ‘THEATRE’ is a farce. It is no play acting but real life and death situations where young people are in the front row. I think ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’ was the last man to lead his men from the front!
By the way, I hope JASON is not one of yours. 🙂
I do know a Jason, one of my Toyboys, but not sure of the one you mean.
I was thinking of the Jason in your masthead/banner. 🙂
ROHLMAO! I forgot about him! Not one of my gang!
Just as well. I coudda had the Environment/Heritage police at your door. 🙂
I love it! I actually wrote about it here
You know my views on this Grannymar. I totally accept what our Vedas say – “hat which exists is One: sages call it by various names.”
Some of the callers are not sages!
Well said, GM! Islamic terrorists want to create polarization ~ an “us” against “them” mentality. it is far easier to convert other Muslims to their skewed cause if Muslims feel persecuted and ostracized by those who don’t embrace Allah.
The best way to defeat the terrorists and extremists and fanatics is to band together with other humans ~ dealing with the rotten apples on an individual rather than collective basis.
Nancy, we had that sort of mentality here in Northern Ireland for many years until they realised that divide and rule does not work. For those who believe in salvation all they need to do is look at their hand It has many blood vessels in the fingers Read roads and they all pass through the palm on the way to the heart of the body (salvation)!
I agree with your well said post. I do find it upsetting that with what is going on in today’s world that more Muslims don’t speak up loudly against what is happening. There is far too many of the silent majority. I grew up much like you did and agree. No matter what beliefs things are not always right. My pet peeve with the news media here in America is that I would like the total story with out all of the he says, she says. The discussion is over the top. We don’t need the sly cant of how we should think. I’ll step down from my soap box now.
Bev, they are beginning to speak up. In the UK we hear more from them on the radio.
Each of us no matter how un-political we assume to be, are conditioned by the way we were brought up… the conversations listened to or overheard (big difference) and the actions we saw all play a part in how we think and it takes generations to wean us away from them.
I’ve pondered much on these issues and had several discussions with a devout Muslim friend who recently went on the pilgrimage to Mecca, etc. What these people are doing in the name of Allah and Islam is a perversion, just as perverse and shameful things have been done, all too often, under the auspices of other religions.
I agree Mike, whole heartedly.
You are correct of course. I have/had friends who are Moslem. However, I don’t know how else to refer to the extremists when they yell ‘Alla Akbar’ before or after they kill people. If Catholics did it you’d call them Catholic extremists.
I have known very good people in all religions, including Jehovah’s Witness, Seventh Day Adventists, Morman, and Jewish. And they suffer the slings an arrows of bad jokes and cruelty. The JW were thrown into concentration camps by the Nazis because they refused to kill.
My Dad was Catholic and my Mom Protestant, so I learned about religion early. After he discovered the priest at our local church was drinking and womanizing, my Dad took the whole family to the Black catholic church (we lived in the segregated South).
Until more moderate Muslims stand up and condemn the abhorrent behavior of the extremists, as the President of Egypt did this past week, many of the ignorant Muslims will be swayed by the message of evil.
Dianne, I wonder is you would be able to listen to this short interview from BBC Radio 4. A Muslim woman reacts to the attacks in Paris and describes her dual life living between the UK and the Middle East. Well worth it is you can. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04xs9m6
there are “bad eggs” in all models of life, just as there “good eggs” –
I don’t believe it will ever change…but the problem now we face that the minute the “bad egg” does something bad, the worldwide web reveals it…
whereas the “good egg” doesn’t always get in the forefront of the newsreels because frankly nasty things sell papers better.
Bad news breeds fear and the bad eggs thrive on that fear.
Well written blog. For Bev listening to the news in the US, in Canada we have our CBC and other news channels as well as the American channels. However, when we want unbiased world news we tune into the BBC.
Thank you Maureen and welcome back to the blog. I take it you are referring to the BBC World Service Radio. Our local station switches over to that station between the hours of 01:00 and 05:20 each night. I noticed the coverage of world events e.g. the Iraq war, gave us an unbiased commentary than we heard throughout the day. At times I wondered if they were talking about completely different events. One of the bonuses of insomnia, I suppose!
We ignore the evil in the world at our peril, we ignore the lessons of history at our peril, rose colored glasses only change the outlook of the one wearing them.
Brighid, I for one, do not wear rose tinted spectacles. I see life as it is, or as a late uncle was fond of saying ‘With no cloaking’!
If tomorrow I was to pack my bags and move to another country, one where there was no war, strife or greed. A place where EVERY person was respected no matter their colour, race, creed or sexual orientation. Where would that be? Unfortunately, no such place exists.
To my mind war solves nothing as we see from ‘the war to end all wars’ and every other conflict since then. It tears families apart. Your grandson is a very brave young man, but we never see the men with their hands on the start button, e.g. Blair, Bush, Cameron or Obama, standing side by side with these young folk on the front line. They may visit once a year but even then they are surrounded by a ring of steel and they sneak in and out after the shortest possible duration.
Now let us not fall out over this, we are both strong women who have faced the real trials of life: dealing with birth and death, We do not need guns or bombs, just loving care and compassion for those in need.
Still friends I hope.
I had no thought of a falling out…? We just come at this issue from different life experiences. I know there are those that would harm mine without a seconds hesitation, compassion is never going to make it otherwise. That tweeker down the road that thinks nothing of killing an old man & a child to feed a habit is not going to be stopped by a compassionate hug. Neither are those that seek to take over my country and it’s constitution. That is what my family has stood for and fought for these many years, irregardless of who is at the helm of the ship of state.
I do appreciate that you let me voice my opinion, after all it is your blog.
Most certainly still friends!
Brighid, you tackled the topic and not the commenters, There are some who do not understand that is the etiquette of blogging. You are always welcome at my door.
I enjoy hearing your opinions, Marie. You express yourself very well and I certainly agree with you on this topic!
Thank you, Debra, I am not a political or religious animal, and mostly prefer to keep my views to myself. Unfortunately we are living in a time of extremes & superlatives, forgetting that paper won’t refuse ink. As my father often told us: Do not believe all we hear or half you see or read, Wise words for these days of modern instant communication and reaction.