Most of us are born into religion not by choice, by what our parents practice. Very few of us ever consider anything else…its always painted like the worst thing ever. So we never bother to understand, we stand at our corners quiet with our one sided pool of information.
I met some friends over 3 years ago who I got to watch for basically one year. They have this way they live. They greet each other with kind words in the morning, have lunch together and even live together. They are a bit inseparable. I was a bit envious and I questioned what was this thing that made them so close. My friends are from India. Before, I would have been scared being anywhere near a shrine, but after meeting them, it didn’t scare me as much. I asked questions, what their holidays meant, why some were vegetarians…and even got into the habit of using words like namaste and bhai. My Indian friends taught me not to judge too quickly. They were kind to me and even kinder to each other. I was left questioning a lot of the information I previously had.And I understand now, holiness is in right action.
I fail to understand the kind of cruelty that comes with religious discrimination. Why killing is justified. Why one does not have a choice to chose their religion. Why death can be the solution for that change. Why women are treated like possessions, mutilated, not allowed to speak for themselves, even denied basic education. It beats the point if it is all for religion. I wish there was only one, maybe the millions of people who have lost their lives over it may still be with us.
We went wrong somewhere. Separating by skin color, by race, by religion. We went wrong and it might destroy us.
To simmer on:
I loved watching Kingdom of Heaven and this I had to rewind:
I love this quote the Gmoney says in the morning.
“I love you my brother whoever you are whether you worship in your church, kneel in your temple, or pray in your mosque.You and I are all children of one faith, for the diverse paths of religion are fingers of the loving hand of one Supreme Being, a hand extended to all, offering completeness of spirit to all, eager to receive all.” Kahlil Gibran
Lets talk 