World wide, people were making plans of celebrating New Year’s Eve with friends or family, either at a party or in the comfort of their homes. Everyone was grateful that they had made it through the year that will most probably be remembered for H1N1 (swine flu), economic hardships, life’s lessons and other personal turbulent affairs was a relief to everyone. They were ready to say good-bye to 2010 and send it off with a BANG and welcome 2011. Little did the inhabitants of Alexandria know that it would literally go out with not one bang but two fatal ones!
At midnight 2 car bombs exploded outside a church, in the Sidi Bishr area of Alexandria. Worshippers inside the church were attending a New Year’s midnight mass when the explosion took place. In the blast 21 people died and there were several casualties. The Coptic Christians were enraged by the act that they went and attacked a nearby Mosque, which caused a clash between Muslim’s and Christians.
In this past week in Alexandria, there have been protests and demonstrations over the decision taken by the Minister of Education to change 3 schools in to ‘Experimental Schools’ and now, a terrorist attack! As an Alexandrian and a human being, I can’t help but ask, ‘WHY?’ What message or reason could possibly justify the act of rash decision-making, violence and the taking of human lives? Has the world gone completely mad? Have we as a species lost or forgotten the meaning or the acts of philanthropy, compassion and coexistence? I am not a deeply religious person, but from what I have read and what I have been taught. Religions don’t promote, encourage or condone attacks on other people! Have we become so fanatic that we no longer understand the basic fundamentals of our religion(s) and can no longer comprehend the clear lessons and words of wisdom that we are meant to follow? Is it possible that lessons like ‘thou shall not kill they neighbor’ have been misinterpreted to, KILL?
If the answer is, ‘YES’. then I am not only disgusted, appalled and enraged at the level the human race is sinking to.
This act has hit home with me for many reasons; The first reason is because this was a very close call for my family. My father had been to a church in Cleopatra twice yesterday,before the bombs had gone off. He, (a Muslim man), was there attending a funeral service and paying his condolences to his friend and his family on their families loss. It could have very easily been the church the mourners were at and where people paying their condolences were. When we first heard the news, we were told it was the church my father had been at, which made us wonder, If my father hadn’t come home when he had done, he could have been among the dead or the injured. As an Alexandrian, this is an attack not just on Christians, but on our city and its people! This doesn’t just affect us, it affects everyone in Egypt and abroad.
I come from a mixed ethnic background where both my parents come from different parts of the world and follow different religions. Throughout my childhood, teens and adulthood never once did I feel that either were different or better than the other. If my parents could coexist for over 35 years without killing one another and raised their daughters to be respectful to everyone and not be prejudice towards others, then I don’t see why it can’t be done.
I continue not to choose sides, I stand for humanity, I stand for life, I stand for people’s right to practice their religion as long as it doesn’t harm or offend anyone else. Earth is our home and if we don’t change our ways and re-educated its people to learn to coexist the way we should, then we are going to have some trigger happy S.O.B blow the whole place up! I don’t want that to happen, do you?
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January 2, 2011 at 06:32
Don Liston
Since the fatal day of September 11, 2001, I have worked out my rage and anger at the murder of over 3,000 people in the Twin Towers in New York City. I hold degrees in English so I work it out by trying to help the people in the Middle East with their efforts to learn good English. I teach teachers and students in university level classes.
I am not religious. I was not raised in a religious family but passed through a couple on my way to adulthood as I was passed from relative to relative and stranger to stranger. All of them instilled their own ethic for me and, in general I only listened to what sounded good to me. When I was a teen I knew that all of the cool girls would be found in a church and so I went there. I did the ritual things as much as possible but the doctrine didn’t take with me. I have a very strong sense of right and wrong. I get along fine with Muslims and Christians or any other faith because I practice what many of them preach. From the Christians I borrowed the eleventh commandment found in the Bible in John 13:36: “A new commandment I give unto you; that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.”
From the Q’ran I learned, in Sura CIX, that He (PBUH) commanded his followers: “O ye UNBELIEVERS! I worship not that which ye worship, And ye do not worship that which I worship; I shall never worship that which ye worship,
Neither will ye worship that which I worship. To you be your religion, to me my religion. Ameen.”
There is no animosity, no anger and certainly no implied hatred in this passage and the message dismisses all grounds for a “holy war,” which is, by any measure an oxymoron in Islam. With my kindergarten understanding of Arabic, I know that “jihad” does NOT mean “a holy war” but rather “the struggle” which is life itself.
The Q’ran uses (al-jihad fi sabil Allah)”, which is “striving in the way of Allah.”
People who preach this idea are teaching heresy within the boundaries of Islam. They are the “false prophets” in the same tradition as Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver.
The disease of hatred has reigned for a long time and must be contained when good people decide that they have had enough.
I send my condolence to those who lost family and friends to these monsters.
. . . and to all of my dearly loved friends in Egypt, I will always care about you although I may never be able to return and share your beautiful country.
My thought for 2011 is the eleventh commandment: Love one another.. .
January 2, 2011 at 10:26
irishalexandrian3109
Thank you Don.