For those of you who are on Twitter, you know there are occasionally those bizarre little things that get addressed to you out of the blue. More often than not they are annoyances, but I had one of those rare gems today that made me pause.
I was lead to a blog post that was originally written in Persian. What it missed in eloquence, it definitely made up for in feeling. In all of the talk of politicians, leaders, and official diplomacy, the people of a given nation are usually forgotten. It is a sad by-product of the process, and something I continually get angry at myself for doing. When it comes to U.S. relations with the Middle East, I berate myself more than usual, if for no other reason, I have friends residing there.
The path to peace is not only through diplomacy between leaders. The people still have their parts to play. Unfortunately, fear of the unknown tends to get in the way, and instead of embracing the possibility of building bridges between different ways of life, we tend to react with hatefulness – in speech, written words, and actions.
Many members of the media have been complaining about some of their fellows for promoting hatred and intolerance, particularly when it comes to people of Iran and the Middle East in general. Those complaints and condemnations are righteous, and should be heeded. Warmongering is not reserved to leaders of nations and armies – it often begins in the hearts and minds of the people. Be accurate when aiming venomous words, and leave the peaceful people within a nation out of range when you wish to condemn the actions of their leaders. Just as we would not always want to be associated with our leaders, they may not want to be equated with theirs.
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