Again: No apologies. Re: Burn the Qu'ran

The beauty about blogging is that you can go on a tirade like I did yesterday and then today you can write about unicorns and the beauty of rainbows...then again this is my blog and I am not really a unicorn kinda gal and how do you follow up the most "read" thing you have ever written with a post about how cute my dog is? I mean I am going to be held to militant she-bitch persona to make sure my writing is being read?Am I that much of  a narcissist?

Is that what a blog is for...to express who we are and then hope people read it and agree with us or agree to disagree?? The jury is out. There is this pressure to write something with the same ferocity that I wrote yesterday's post. Every single one of the posts that people have responded to have been because my passion was evident in every single sentence of that post. But I have to tell you that is exhausting. I was drained after that blog. And I have a lot of things that I care about but so few that I am truly passionate about...I cannot do an impassioned blog about Peanut Butter. As much as I love it, it will not be that interesting. That I can promise you.

I never expect people to agree with me or my views all the time but as a Libra, I need balance and I do expect people to be fair. I get that those are unreal expectations. But by fair I mean, you hear me out, I will hear you out and if one of us backs down then we have reached a compromise. Sounds good right? Idyllic and romanticized notions of compromise...I should draft the Mid-East Peace Proposal.

I wanted to weigh on what Burn The Koran guy means to me and how I feel about September 11.

Burn the Quran guy, Terry Jones, is an extremist. Extremists desecrate things, they show lack of respect and they are cowards. They prey on the weak and innocent to perpetuate their rhetoric. The fact that he wants to do this on a day when other extremists did those very things is unforgivable. As a Buddhist, I am taught to value human life. As a human who woke up to that scene 9 years ago, it is hard to remember that Buddhist tenet.

That day, like everyone of you, is as real to me as it ever was...I can smell the oatmeal lotion my son wore and the exact t shirt he was wearing when I watched the second plane hit. I remember hugging my then partner so tight and never wanting to let go.

As soon as it was realized that the hijackers were of Middle Eastern descent, I ran to the computer and knew what I had to do...my dad is from Pakistan. He has lived in this country over 2/3 of his life. He became a United States citizen and served this country for over 20 years in the United States Army. He is also Muslim. My parents were recently divorced and my dad had moved to a community in Texas that had an active Muslim community. As I watched communities throw Molotov cocktails through the windows of mosques, I wanted to make sure my dad and his community were ok. Because I knew that HIS community was not responsible for this...this is not what I knew his Islam to be...

I emailed him and received a response pretty quickly.

"Amy, Thanks for asking. I am fine. We should have bombed those motherfuckers for the USS Cole when we had the chance. I am a U.S. soldier first. If they need me to go back, I will. Love, Dad"

My dad was an example that day. He did not want anyone fucking with his God or his country. And for American-Muslims, the extremists did both that day.

I will mourn the loss of everyone on September 11, I will mourn for the families that never get closure, for my son who has only grown up in this nation of fear and anxiety, for Muslims who have had an unrelenting attack of persecution on their faith.

***As I was about to post this, word came that he is cancelling the Burn The Quran***