I like to think I have a wide variety of friends.Although I live in rural Ontario, my civil service job allows me to meet and mingle with people all over this vast province.
One of my dearest "work" friends is a woman named Fatima.She works in my office's HR section. Fatima is " 30 something" and her story goes like this: When she was a young girl,she and her family emigrated from Moravia,Liberia. The political climate was such that a progressive Muslim family was persecuted and hog tied for showing any type of work ethic or embracing any kind of liberal view point. Hence, her family came to Canada.
Her mother and father opened a small convenience store approximately 100 kilometers north of Toronto. For those of you who unfamiliar with Central Ontario, it is an enigma: There are tall trees, small pristine lakes,and marinas that dock small vessels, Unfortunately, there is also a small group of inhabitants who see all Muslim newcomers as a threat to their sanctity and exhibit characteristics somewhat akin to the most hardened white trash racists of the southern United States.
Fatima and her family managed to deflect the racist slurs and prosper somewhat, and she ended up working in a civil service job. I got to to know her through my work, and I had the pleasure of getting to know her on a personal level. This was long after the ugly events of 9/11.
The more I got to know Fatima, the more comfortable I got asking her questions about being a Muslim. She answered patiently and projected the qualities that the prophet Mohammad felt were necessary for living a long and decent life: Compassion, empathy and charity. These are in direct contrast with what the criminal scum who call themselves the Taliban preach, namely: Murder, intolerance, and sexism. Unfortunately, it is the latter that most people in North America associate with being a Muslim. But hey, when you get your news from the "Fox Network" or "CNN", who can blame them.
I have a sinking feeling that things are going to get a little more uncomfortable for Muslims in North America.Last week a somewhat troubled, rotund, loser US Army psychiatrist went on a shooting rampage at his army base in Fort Hood, Texas. By the time this swine was finished, 13 people lay dead with scores wounded. The shooter, a Muslim of Middle Eastern descent cried:" Allah Akbar" ( God is great) before commencing the slaughter of his unarmed teammates. Within hours of the shooting, CNN and Fox were reporting the gunman's words, while trying frantically to prove a conspiracy theory that had terrorist undertones.
President Obama, to his credit, went into major damage control telling Americans that this was the cowardly act of one crazed person and not the act of a whole religious community. But by then, it was too late. The words of the shooter were burned into the psyche of every God fearing American who watched the event unfold in high definition.
I cannot imagine the heart tugging, mind numbing black pit of grief that the personnel of Fort Hood are feeling right now. To lose friends, colleagues and soul mates in this type of abhorrent act, leaves one speechless and asking for answers. The US government, the Justice Department and the US Army has vowed to bring the shooter to justice, and get the to the bottom of why this occurred.
But there is another group of people who I am feeling some empathy for: The thousands of Muslims who came to North America who had nothing to do with this atrocity. For every shell casing that hit the floor that fateful day in Fort Hood, there will be scores of Muslims who will be looked upon as complacent co-conspirators. For every time the shooters name is mentioned on cable news , there will be thousands of women in hijab's who are viewed with contempt by their co-workers. For every life that taken on that fateful day in Fort Hood , will be ten ultra conservative talk show hosts, whipping their already paranoid listeners into a frenzy and looking for the Muslim religion's collective hide. Trust me, this could get ugly before it gets better.
If only everyone involved had a friend like Fatima.
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