Sunday, August 22, 2010

This Land Was Made for You and Me

This morning I was listening to debate about the proposed plans for expanding an already existing mosque in Lower Manhattan that happens to be located two blocks from where the World Trade Towers stood. Because I have not done enough independent research on the imam who wants to develop the site, I cannot say whether his motivation is to heal or to hurt those who lost loved ones when the towers fell. Because I do not live in New York, I cannot imagine how such a project would make me feel if I had to pass it every day on my way to work. Because I am not a Muslim, I cannot say whether this project is wise or folly.

But because I am an American, I believe in the freedom of belief.

I remember September 11, 2001 vividly...I remember the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I watched the first tower fall. I remember the aftermath of frayed emotions and cultural misunderstandings aimed at other fellow Americans whose only crime was their foreign-looking appearance. I remember the day I went to the Home Depot to buy plastic sheeting and duct tape.

But then I remembered that if I called myself a person of faith, then I needed to act like it.

And here we are, in the ultimate gray area between belief and action. For the past nine years, we have debated what it means to be an American and how the values we espouse as Americans should serve as a beacon to the rest of the world. We declared then that the terrorists could hijack planes but not our beliefs; so now it appears God is calling our bluff...

Build the mosque in Lower Manhattan because our ideals are more than just empty rhetoric. If we succumb to the temptation to make exceptions based on our momentary fears, can we still call America the land of the free and the home of the brave?

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