A Not-So-Radical Rant.

WARNING: If you're looking for something light and shallow, shuffle UrbanDictionary or something. This is an entry that might actually make people hate me...even though you still don't know who I am. Muahaha. The point is this: read, but don't expect to laugh/agree. That is all.

All right, before I go on my little rant, let me just say that I am very open to peoples' opinions, and I don't enjoy putting ideas and choices down. But I'm a little bit outraged, and now I'm going to blog it. It's a big one, you guys. Put down the Hot Pocket. Shut down your Skype. Pull your creaky reading glasses out of that tube sock (hey, I'm not judgin', those socks make for excellent, safe storage). Time to focus.

Religion(s). Plural, because I would very much like to discuss the short-sightedness of a large number of people. Especially in the United States. *cough cough* Get over yourselves, Americans. Please.

I guess I'm really just focusing on the biggest one today: true Islam vs. our perceptions of Islam.

Hi, I'm a Christian, and I don't hate Muslims. I have no reason to hate anyone. In fact, my God tells me to love my neighbor, and heck, modern technology puts us side by side everyday, all over the world. Muslims are my neighbors, and I love them like I love the people in my own church family. There is absolutely no harm/shame in that.

Wake up, folks. The entirety of the Islamic people did not take part in the terrorist attacks on 9/11. They were radicals. We hear about "American/white/Christian radicals" every stankin' day. The dictionary, as in good old Merriam-Webster, defines a terrorist attack as violent or destructive acts. If we adhere to that definition, every murderer, rapist, and professional wrestler is an active terrorist. Granted, that's a little extreme...but I feel like we're all forgetting how to keep these situations in perspective. A group of people did a terrible thing. Americans categorized that group. Now, everyone who falls under a related category is instantly condemned, because we are predisposed as to who they are. Can we try to forget? I'm not asking anyone to forget what happened to this country, because words cannot describe the horror. I'm not even asking anyone to forget who did this to America. I'm asking, and I know I'm not alone in this, that we forget the news reports that tried to define these monsters by attributing them to clothing and a religion. If you want to label terrorists, look at their pasts, their pressures, and their predispositions. (Merriam-Webster says that's not a word, but I don't think I care at the moment.) Some people have a history that becomes a shoulder-devil. (Like in cartoons..."The Emperor's New Groove," anyone?)

I had to read a book called Zeitoun by Dave Eggers for school this fall, and it details, in places, one woman's conversion from Christianity to Islam. I won't go on and on about it here (although I could), but I'll just tell you one thing I learned: the Q'uran is based on the Old Testament of the Bible. Christians and Muslims are all sons of Abraham. You guys, we're all brothers and sisters, for crying out loud. The next step is to make the world realize it.

Okay, I don't know all the facts. I apologize for anything that is innacurate, and therefore void. I do not, however, apologize for being the why-can't-we-all-just-get-along voice in a sea of accusers and the accused. And what I do know for sure is that we do not live in a perfect world. We are not a perfect people. Our ideology is skewed everyday by almost everyone and everything with which we come into contact. You can try to deny it, but that just proves your imperfection. Mine, too, believe me.

That's all the intense emotion I can muster, for now. It comes in...er...spurts. Not like hot flashes, that's weird. What? I know you were thinking it.

Toodles, anonymous children of boredom.