[lit-ideas] Re: Alternate Views of Multiculturalism -long as usual

  • From: Eternitytime1@xxxxxxx
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 11:27:47 EST

 
In a message dated 2/19/2006 4:52:15 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

But  can't 
bring myself to read any of it anymore. Not a 
single word of it.  Can't even bear to look at it.



Hi,
I know. I can (sometimes) be pretty harsh with words and I was with one of  
my friends who is a peace-loving forgiving soul. (one of the Unity Teacher  
types)   I think my friend who was a Holocaust survivor and who has  done a lot 
of library programs for us here helped me work through a lot of those  emotions 
as she was constantly asked if she hated the Germans and how in the  world 
she could go back to her little village (who had done some horrible things  and 
had also now rebuilt her synagogue and where many of them tried to gloss  over 
their action (or inaction).  But, she's had many many years to work  through 
it and is, I think, pretty unusual. She is an extreme pacifist  now--maybe 
that is one way she dealt with it. Kind of the Victor Frankl method  of dealing 
with horrific events--what is it he says gets people through  things?  (the 
Logo therapy that he proposed)  There were three methods  that he decided as he 
watched and analyzed ... and the one which probably is  what I have seen mostly 
is those who then decide to 'do' something productive  about similar sorts of 
situations so that it will not happen again to someone  else.  In this 9-11 
situation, i suppose it could take many different  forms--one of which would be 
to bomb the whole religious world of Islam into  smithereens so that it does 
not ever happen again. That may, actually, be  what is driving a lot of the 
extreme anti-Islamic sentiment (which is huge--and  it would not matter if 
there 
was a moderate Muslim or an extreme  fundamentalist in the area--I think it 
is the World Society of the Future of  Religion [not the right name, I think] 
which has done some studies on that sort  of sentiment amongst Americans since 
9-11.)   Or, it could be some  shifting to the whole 'get rid of all 
weapons/bombs/etc and take no chance that  any of them can even come close and, 
an 'oh, 
too bad so sad' attitude if  some of the moderates get killed in the line of 
fire--  I think those  involved in the whole Emergent Movement (which began on 
all sides and all  religious groups prior to 9-11 and much of it as a 
reaction to Fundamentalists  in each of their religious traditions--were not 
surprised and it just solidified  the thought that they had really better get 
busy and 
move a little faster--and  they have. Many of them are all kids/grandkids of 
some of the top fundamentalist  leaders -- and their Elders are not too 
happy--but as they have not left their  traditions and do not advocate 
that--it's an 
interesting twist.)
 
All I can say is--I know.  I'm not ever saying that any of us here is  to be 
involved in that movement--but it is, to me, interesting because it IS  
happening and it IS going to eventually have a strong impact.  I wanted to  be 
clear 
that there are people who, somehow, had already reached the conclusion  and 
were doing something about it--to extremism within their religious  traditions. 
 To show that there are people reacting to things in different  ways--
 
I don't know how my friends who were in charge of the Salvation Army area  in 
NYC at the time of 9-11 can have their oh--whatever it is that they have--the 
 stories of the littles [they took care of many of the little ones who lost 
both  parents that day and others who had lost one but they had no idea who the 
other  parents was--]   They were in the thick of it -- maybe because they  
were actually "doing" something?  I don't know.  I just watch and  listen and 
see what they are doing next.  
 
So, okay--we'll see what happens in the next twenty years inside of you  
towards this. Maybe by then the great percentage of folk who are seeking  
identity 
will find it in the Emergent Movement (or have died... but left only  the 
non-fundamentalists to interact with...)
 
I don't speak much with my friend who was the one who cautioned a bunch of  
us towards not reacting off-the-handle not long after 9-11 and I was not the  
only one who got tipped over the edge towards her.  Maybe she could process  
grief a bit faster--I don't know.  But, just because you do process  it--does 
not mean you forget or that you are not aware of the ones who go to the  
extreme 
mean side.  For me, maybe it has helped that I knew the two  different types 
because of having known so many of the moderate types in one  city and so many 
of the extreme horribly mean ones in another.  (Still  think that the 
Claritas/marketing people would have done a service to have  figured that one 
out and 
wonder if they had...)  There were so many mean  ones in that one town -- but 
in the other, they were already in that  appreciative mode. Don't know, yet, 
what makes one gravitate towards one or the  other...but i know that I 
definitely have the tendency to throw the baby out  with the bathwater (so to 
speak) 
when I get burned...so I understand...if I  didn't have a child, I would have 
slapped on a burkha (and had my friend who  owns the language school that 
rivals that of Monterey teach me the language) and  headed to the hills to 
figure 
out who to get...well, that was also my child's  idea but I decided that it 
might not be the wisest course of action at the  time...)
 
 
It's more that it is interesting to see what is happening--and what some  
Others are doing...NOT to recommend that course of action...just to  Watch...
 
Best,
Marlena in Missouri

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