And neither should you.

That means you have one of two choices. 1) you can go grab a tissue for your issues and whine and pine away in a sad, sorry corner of your home as you begrudgingly eat your falafel, or 2) (and this is where I get a little crazy) look at what’s happening around the nation in a different way, and recognize the positives in every piece of lunacy that’s currently going down.

That’s right, I’m offering you 5 reasons to be THANKFUL for Islamophobia.

1. The Profiling & Surveillance

Yes, they’re watching. In American society, only Muslims seem to know how much they’re actually watching- everyone else seems to think it’s a myth. But you’ve probably encountered it. The strange, unrecognized face at the mosque who doesn’t seem to know exactly what to do. The surprisingly personal, probing questions at the airport. The unknown preacher at the door supposedly divulging some controversial thoughts and trying to get you to follow suit. Yes, all of these have happened to me- though you’ve probably got your own stories. But the fact is, so what? Let them watch. Let them be bored to tears as you don’t drink your sorrows away every Friday. Let them yawn as you don’t lie, cheat or steal your way through difficulty. Let them snicker incredulously as you never seem to pick up any guys or girls to bring home. The truth is, if you’re a practicing muslim, you at your moral worst is a “normal” person at their moral best. Here, on this day, I am giving you permission to be proud of it, and to not apologize for it. There will always be people who take your morality as a judgment on theirs even when you’re not opening your mouth. Don’t ever lose sleep over the thankless.

Let’s face it- you’d be the most boring show on the Showtime network.

It’s just the fact of it, and you should be proud to be an example that gets recorded down in those Homeland Security surveillance records for posterity. Let them learn from you, instead of the morons who fly planes into buildings. Did you know most of those guys were busy getting hammered at strip clubs in the days before the 9/11 plot? Muslims my ass- they were no Muslims. Drinkers, beardless and murderous. We’ve been torpedoed by impostors, my friends, and there’s nothing you can do about it now but let your life be an open book for all to see.

2. The Quran Burning

If there’s anything that sends shivers up the spine of the general population, it’s the burning of books. Just a quick glance at American history on this topic reminds us why the subject of burning any book has become almost taboo, and it’s a part of American culture that, like burning the flag, almost never happens within our borders any more. So when a crackpot (who has barely read the Bible much less the Quran) decides that he’s going to have an ‘International Burn a Koran’ day, rejoice that it’s a crackpot doing it, rejoice that it’s happening in the American south (where this behavior is almost expected), and rejoice that he got a lot of air-time to make a fool of himself in public. Who wants to be on that guy’s side? If this was high school and he was picking his team, even the gangliest of nerds would be happy to be picked last.

3. The Protests & Other Loony Behavior

Look at the picture on the left. Then look at the one on the right. Back to the left. Now back to the right.

One is from somewhere deep in the 1960s south, and one is from New York city in 2010. There’s only one type of person who looks at these pictures and sings “America! F*** Yeah!” (re: Team America movie). Most everyone looks at it and says, dear God, 50-some years later and we’ve learned nothing. You can’t pay for this kind of anti-endorsement. The protester on the right even used the word “integration” – it doesn’t get much more definitive than that. Rejoice in his or her ignorance, he is doing you a favor. Goodness, I hope it’s a him, not a her. I have so much more faith in the fairer sex. But then again, there’s that lady from Alaska, and I’ve heard she isn’t that keen on minorities and has quite a following. Am I right, minorities in the house?

4. The Physical Threats & Violence

It’s the worst-case scenario. Throughout history, all of the above situations eventually lead to it. Physical violence. It’s apparently controversial to say, but beyond all the victims of 9/11, in the planes, in the towers, the responders, the cancers and diseases the followed, there is another set of ignored victims of that September in 2001.

Muslims.

There. I said it. And quite frankly, anyone who even looks like a Muslim- in the eyes of the kind of guy who probably can’t tell the difference- is in this particular 9/11 victim zone. The Sikh who got taken down because he wore a turban, for example. The perpetrator probably couldn’t tell us dark folks apart so it’s safe to assume that he wouldn’t be able to tell turbans apart either, because, as you know, a Sikh turban is quite different from an Afghani turban which is quite different from a clerical turban. And forget the fact that the general Muslim population world-wide doesn’t even wear turbans, and a Sikh is almost as far from a Muslim as you can get. Hint- call a Sikh a Muslim and see how he reacts.

But I digress. Here is the sad but real fact. It’s coming. This country is a powder keg, waiting for some moron to light a match and toss it in. My sincerest wish is that if is to happen, that it happen to Muslims at the hand of someone like a Timothy McVeigh, and not by another moron terrorist claiming to be a Muslim. Why? Because we will inevitably just swallow it, but in the opposite scenario- well- I shudder to think. Depending on who controls the House and Senate this November, who’s going to stop the re-creation of internment camps were a sizable terrorist attack to happen? Two “parties” are running on platforms of bigotry and xenophobia so it can be safe to assume they will happily support it, and the third party is often a party of cowards, and will be too frightened to stop a new potential Executive Order 9066. Yes folks, it happened in America, and it can happen again with the right recipe. And right now, we’re only an ingredient or two away from the pièce de résistance.

What I’m saying is that it’s only a matter of time where some of these loons we discussed earlier take it upon themselves to take it to the next level. If they’re going to make a sign about “segregation” – it’s not crazy to think that the next illogical step is to repeat the church bombing of Birmingham, Alabama, but with a mosque. Mosques around the country have already been threatened. In recent history, at least one of them was set ablaze. Shortly after 9/11, a guy had collected a slew of artillery and was planning on mowing down a mosque in South Florida. Thankfully, he got caught, but isn’t it strange how he was never branded a terrorist, and almost nobody has heard of the case? Suffice it to say, there have been hundreds upon hundreds of documented and undocumented post-9/11 assaults, beatings and sometimes killings. You probably haven’t seen many of them covered in the news, have you? No, they usually only cover the stories where the alleged Muslims are the bad guys. So of course most Americans have a distorted view- why wouldn’t they?

But that’s the way the world works I suppose, and we, as Muslims have to get used to the double standard for the foreseeable future. And we have to steel ourselves up for the eventuality that someone is going to initiate a devastating act of terrorism against Muslims within American borders. And if and when that happens, if nothing else, it will be an opportunity for Muslims to show the rest of America what turning the other cheek is actually all about. While some of the right wing pundits are hammering away, telling America that we’re all dark and villainous and ready to pounce, what they’ll see instead is most likely going to shock them. A response not of violence, but rather of ardent political and social engagement, bolstered by an outpouring of support from fair-minded citizenry. But it will only be shocking to those who have become victims of our stereotyping; I can tell you it won’t really be shocking or surprising to me.

I suppose what’s terribly sad and pathetic is that I’m standing here, yelling to the gods of misery, that if something bad is to happen, let it happen to us. I never, ever thought words like this would ever come out of my mouth.

I wish nothing horrific on anyone, and am not volunteering anyone for the excruciating pain and misery that would follow. My greatest hope is that the violence has ended, on all sides, and with our wars drawing down, we’ll have time to focus on the true injustices and causes of the enmity around the world in the first place. But my realism streak tells me a storm is coming, and I would much rather we be the victims of it, because if we’re not, well quite frankly, we’ll be the secondary victims of it anyway, but with no sympathy or quarter from most of the population to boot.

“If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

I suppose the only question now is, who will be our Martin Luther King?

5. The Ostracizing

For Muslims who have been abroad to supposedly “Muslim” countries, they’ve most likely noticed a dearth of actual Muslim-like behavior. Half the time it seems the practitioners of the faith are simply performing lip-service and blindly following the path trodden by their fathers and mothers, because it’s easy. Two cases in point- Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Both supposedly Muslim countries, but just look how they operate. Where’s the Islam?

But for the Muslims in America, it’s a different story. The simple act of performing all the duties required of a Muslim in daily life is so much more difficult. The food you eat, the beverages you drink, the company you keep. It is a non-stop assault on your pillars of faith, and now, with the politics involved, a non-stop assault on your sense of self-worth. Let’s face it- the only reason you’re still a Muslim in America is because you damn well want to be, not because it’s easy. In that is the most empowering aspect of life for Muslims in the west, and the reason your faith is likely to never die. You’ve fortified your spirit and steeled your reserve while at the same time softened your heart. It is a juggling act no ordinary person performs, but you do it because you have found something worth the effort. Nobody can take that from you. Nobody.

And, irony of ironies, within this nation, the ostracizing provides the foundation for a unity and tolerance that has so far escaped the post-colonial nations that are so vilified today for their disunity and intolerance.

Consider it triumph in adversity.

So that’s it. 5 reasons for you to loosen your self-imposed shackles. Are we good? Good. Now go dig your feet in, stand tall, put away your thousand-yard stare, and above all else, never forget to smile.

I really do enjoy Bill Maher’s show, but when he goes on his tirades about religion, he’s so emotional and (ironically) dogmatic about it, it really is like watching [insert religious zealot here]. On the one hand he complains that religions take their scripture too literally, and on the other he proceeds to take the scriptures too literally in order to criticize them. He complains that extremists and zealots should be pushed out of public discourse for their blunt-mindedness, but then brings up extremists and zealots as straw men to represent an entire populace he wishes to vilify. He complains that religions do no good in the world, and then gets angry at missionaries who bring food to the starving because they do so to serve their religion.

All of his analysis filters through a very angry, cynical, judgmental filter.

No empathy.

Let me make a strange connection here to social media. I was recently talking to someone who was offering the usual, ‘You know what, I just don’t get it- Twitter, FaceBook… What’s the point?… etc. etc.’ He’s a non-tech person, almost a Luddite, and of course as such he finds it difficult to be a part of something that basically lives and thrives on a platform of tech. Lightly paraphrasing, he tells me ‘If I had my way, it would all just be turned off, shut off – not because it’s evil, but because I just don’t get it, and the fact that so many are participating in it and I’m not, it creates this self doubt and feeling of disconnectedness that then makes me feel resentment towards it, resulting in me wanting it to just go away.’

And I thought my Netflix Guilt was bad.

The interesting part is that about two years ago we had a similar conversation about religion. He said it should just be made illegal, turned off, shut down. He was not as forthcoming as to his reasoning then, because after all, it was religion we were discussing. But two years later in talking to him about social media, the way his mind works really came clear to me. And if you quiz him on any of the tenets of most of the religions he wants to ‘turn off’? He doesn’t know all that much. Just some personal anecdotal information regarding his own experience, and outside of that- just what he hears on the news, word-of-mouth, etc. You know, like most people. Judging the many because of the few, forgetting that those sources earn their keep through the elevation of negativity.

No empathy.

These specific cases are about religion, but this type of mental approach to things is a very human flaw that really, many of us wrestle with, in varying levels. In effort to keep a grip on our own lives and challenges, we cut things out to feel less overwhelmed. We reduce our empathy for whatever it is, just to deal. We look straight ahead on the street and not at the homeless person sitting with a broken shoe and an empty cup.

It just so happens that we all create and deal with the absence of empathy in different ways. Ultimately, a lack of empathy creates a powder keg of human emotion waiting for stimulus. If even an ounce of pain stimulus comes from that which we do not understand and do not empathize with, fear sets in. And of course, we quickly mask that fear with anger.

There’s no such thing as dark, only an absence of light. There’s no such thing as evil, only an absence of good. What does this have to do with hate? Well, there’s no such thing as hate, only anger flourishing inside an ignorant thought. The more ignorant, the more anger. Likewise, there is no such thing as love, only empathy flourishing inside a patient thought. The more patience, the more empathy.

And considering that ignorance leads directly to a lack of empathy in our flawed human minds, and considering that anger stems directly from a lack of patience, and considering that learning requires patience, the whole thing is very circular.

So why do we hate?

Because it’s easier than to love.

It really is that simple. And this is both hopeful and demoralizing all at once, because of what it says about humanity.

But then there’s the colossal, pervasive and ever-encompassing human flaw that is our complete and total lack of objectivity.  We can’t live up to being the change we want to see in the world, but we sure can see it out there, over there, in that place. Not here. Move along now, nothing more to see here.

Wagging fingers and furling brows at the outside world helps prop up and feed our fragile little egos with a shield of self importance. Offense is our defense. We can’t be the change, but we sure can demand it of others. It’s so obvious, just look at you, why don’t you fix you?

It’s not hypocrisy, it’s just a form of self delusion.

Suddenly, one day, when the end credits start to roll, we are surprised to see our name not next to that scrawny, starving little man we loved so much, but instead, we played the empire he rendered useless.

It’s not hypocrisy, it’s just a form of self delusion.

Play the part you want to be.
And be the change you seek.

I don’t care if you code-word it and call it a miracle. The reality of human existence is such that we’re subject to these systems, these symptoms of existence, these rules of entry. We live within them, by them, subject to them. They are as unavoidable as gravity and as obvious as light, yet as forgettable as gravity and as indiscernible as light. Define: irony.

I believe that these rules intelligently exist. Not in the limited ‘creationism’ sense, but in a more universal sense; a sense that everything exists in this incredible state of connectedness, and our limited human perception keeps us from properly seeing or experiencing it. There is a web at once so immense and so infinitesimal, it hides in plain sight. It contains everything that is, was, will be, shall be, might be, might have been, could have been… everything that is, and inasmuch has a consciousness that we can’t fathom enough to even recognize as a consciousness. It is everything. It just is.

It’s not pantheism that I’m suggesting. But I am suggesting that we are soaked in it. We are surrounded by it without our knowledge, and governed by it without our leave.

So you’re telling me, that within this beautiful sinewy construct, this magnificent intelligence is so limited in forethought that it frequently must, at almost every turn, break the system to drop some magic on us to make a point?

Perhaps the water did seem to part for Moses and his people. But was there a mighty gushing stroke of thunder at Moses’ staff as water began to levitate and part in a magnificent spectacle worthy of a Charlton Heston film? Or was it a matter of perception, and was it the perception that’s been reported, recorded?

Does it truly matter?

The fact is, much study has been given to the question of how such a phenomenon might occur. I recall a documentary on the exodus and the natural series of events that could actually occur, and indeed actually have occurred at other times in human history, that would mimic the series of events, from plagues and death to fire and water seemingly responding to Moses’ every whim. All very possible within the confines of creation as it exists. So what was the miracle? Not the magic, my friend. The miracle was that it happened at the right time, at the right place. The miracle was that Moses was so in tune with the infinite that he felt it, knew it to be coming. The knowledge existed. Moses was, simply put, tapped into it.

That shows him to be a prophet. That shows him to be a holy man. That shows him to be an exceptional, guided, spiritually pure man. But at no point does it show him to be a god or a magician, nor did he claim such a position.

This also solidifies the ultimate message we are to get from the tale, from the behavior of the people who followed him.

They asked for a leader, and they got him. They asked for freedom, and they were granted it. They asked to be led away from their captors, and they were shown to the water. They were asked to be protected from pursuit and nature took its course and they found themselves a sea apart. And when they were left to themselves for a time, their great leader up the mountain, what did they do? What did they do? And how could they do so had they witnessed such colossal feats of magic? How?

Because they didn’t witness magic, my friends. Whatever they did witness was, for some reason or another, feasibly refutable in their physical reality; the question is, was it refutable in their hearts? Were all those seemingly granted wishes good grace or just good fortune? The human brain of now is the human brain of a hundred years ago, of a thousand years ago, of three thousand years ago – the only thing that’s changed is what we stuff it with. And the conflicting thoughts of faith and reason and the difficulty in reconciling the two is just as prevalent now as it was back then.

In every aspect our lives today are signs; moments where we may receive what we asked for or needed and we find ourselves questioning if it was divinely brought, or personally achieved. Burt Reynolds cried out when he was stranded in the water, promising the things he would do better should he be saved. And he swam. He made promises. And he swam. He saw the island, and he thanked God. And he swam. Then he got closer, and the promises stopped. He got closer, and the justification began. The hemming and the hawwing. And by the time he reached the shore, he was back in his old character. After all, he did all the swimming. His path from danger to safety was very logical and explainable. Wasn’t it?

This is what we learn from the story of Moses. This was the test of human faith and reason, which many failed while Aaron did not. Enlightenment in situations such as these is about parsing the events, measuring what was asked for or needed against what you actually managed to receive. If an anthropomorphic entity descended in front of those people and told them what to do and demonstrated limitless cosmic power, then where is the faith, the deduction, the reasoning in obeying the will of such omnipotence?

A dog obeys you because you are the master. Is there any glory or enlightenment in that dog’s heart because he simply sees your power and obeys? No, he is simply a dog and responds to the obvious. There is no test of the soul for him. And he could neither be praised nor condemned as a creature higher nor lower than other animals for anything he does. He is a witless beast.

Magic tests no man. In fact it cheapens both the message and the journey of the man, because it adds a compulsion that requires no faith, only recognition of power and might and magic. And miracles as we believe them as children are magic, brewed to simplify complex morality tales for us at that age, or for an age, an era long gone – that of humanity’s proverbial childhood.  The reputable books are always vague, and focus on the message of faith, not on the explicit, physical, visual details – those intellectual crutches are saved for movies with excellent budgets. And overzealous, intellectually lazy preachers.

Moses, Abraham, Jesus, Mohammad – they were not magicians. Some of the uninitiated or unenlightened may have viewed them as magicians, because of the miraculous natures of their lives and the occurrences within them. But did they ever claim to be magicians and miracle workers?

No.

The expert jeweler knows just where to tap the crystal to make it a diamond, and just where to tap it to turn it to dust. That doesn’t make him a magician, it makes him enlightened.

Now, consider again, the infinite network that is creation. Is the miracle in the ability for it to shatter our laws of existence at every turn to deliver us magic for our eyes to feast upon? Or is the miracle the fact that the system is so intricately, perfectly, systematically woven together, that no magic is needed for the right things to happen at the right time? Isn’t that a more awe-inspiring feat? A feat so unfathomably inimitable that only it can, in its unfathomable inimitability, aptly represent such a truly all-encompassing singularity. No U-turns or fixes needed at every turn. The system adapts and adjusts and tilts and steers all things towards the equilibrium that is within its fabric.

As has been said over and over and over again in our books, the signs are all around, and you can choose to witness and appreciate them, or you can choose to ignore them or explain them away. Such is the nature of faith, the tricky beast that it is. It is your choice. It is your choice. There is no compulsion.

Tap into it. That’s what these religions, philosophies, spiritual explorations are all about. Tap into it. It is there waiting for you. Strive to meet the conditions of enlightenment, and enlightenment awaits. But you must strive. That is your clarion call.

Until you set your watch against the time of day, you’ll never know what time it is at night.

It starts innocently enough – you do your good friendly deed and swing by, stuff the trunk, speed off to the nearest port and hug them goodbye as you’re shooed away by that security guy. And then you go home quietly, tamping down the secret wanderlust this whole episode inspired.

Two hours later they’re texting you telling you they’ve landed somewhere a thousand miles away and you’re still sitting there in your pajamas sipping a cup of soup, having not moved an inch.

The relativity of motion is awe inspiring. In an instant someone’s life has changed – they’re breathing, eating, drinking, feeling in a place that still seems like Earth but is so strangely, obviously different.
And you. You barely made it through the second part of the Lost finale.

Gods of steel and wind we are.
But only when we feel like it.

This is a new century where global economics are set to replace the sword. You’re thinking backwards, not forwards.

Fighting, skirmishing, battling, terrorism all will continue. But war is over.

Happy Xmas.

I think true intelligence has to do with being inquisitive and seeking to learn, and then being able to apply that knowledge creatively, in increasingly sophisticated ways. So it’s not that there’s any one gauge of intelligence, but it’s rather an overall picture of a person’s thirst for knowledge, retention and understanding of it, and ability to apply it.

Knowledge is pointless if you don’t understand it or can’t apply it. Memory or understanding are pointless if you have little knowledge or ability to apply it. And the ability to apply knowledge is pointless if you don’t have any knowledge to begin with, or don’t have the ability to deeply understand it. It’s like a triangle that all works together to make up your ‘intelligence’.

That’s my theory anyway…

Today
the foundation on which we stand
supported by sedimentary layers
in an ancient canyon

which layer do we
praise
for the height
to which we rose?

which layer do we
accuse
for the depth
at which we are?

The rough ragged rock
clawing at the
soft underbelly
of your civilized feet…
doesn’t know you from Adam

It struck me that men (most of them being inherently dog-ish) categorize women into 4 clear categories. Mothers, Lovers, Sisters and Objects. Will have to work on that phraseology… With Mothers and Lovers it’s easy. The problem is exactly where and how fast they categorize the rest of the women they encounter. If they’re married they should immediately move women they encounter into the Sister category, but they don’t. Unless they’re not attracted – then the choice is easy. But even then they leave them as orphans within the Object category – like discarded waste not quite worthy of objectification. They should instead move them into Sisterhood. Considering society rises and falls with the morality, safety and the aptitude of the women within it, the concept of stewardship and caring for all women like your Sister comes heavily into play. Or perhaps that’s just my challenge, as a Muslim man.

And the other thing that hit me was, while watching Garden State and the father/son relationship in it, that there’s no need for me to pander to society’s concept of how I should or shouldn’t communicate with my father. I am my father’s son, and rather than find some situation with verbalized communication that would be most unpleasant for both of us, it would be wiser for me to pay him tribute in the manner that would bring him the most pride. Be who he would be proud of. Say what brings him pride. Do what he can be proud to see and show. Do all these things and let him know that I got his message, and that I am his creation. That will bring him a pleasure and happiness that nothing else could. And that’s what’s important, not my selfish need to have some verbalized, written down dialogue that squeezes him into saying what’s in his heart like some contrived screenplay. Save that part for the movies. Or not.