Silent Fear

I haven't made a post on the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed yet because I've been on an endless debate about Harper's cabinet picks and our parliamentary system. Frankly, I'm tired of it.

So here we go!

Words such as tolerance, respect, dignity, tact, freedom come to mind.

But so does hypocracy, intolerance, fanatisicm, hatred, but the worst is fear.

Whether publishing comics that inflame religious views should be allowed or not is but a small inked cloud to the greater problem this world is facing ... again. You'd think 1000 years would change people's views.

It's the Crusades, but potentially much worse.

With reports that Saddam's WMDs were hidden in Syria, that there's a nutjob in power in Iran who wants nuclear arms, Hamas in power in Palestine, and that this whole anti-comic outburst has been planned since September '05 indicates how much of a powderkeg we're standing upon.

I have friends from all religions and we all share the same basic principles and ideals. I know quite a bit about Islam and frankly, I am in great respect of the teachings of the Holy Quran, but disdain at how some have interpreted it and misled others to believe so. Same goes for the Holy Bible and Torah.

And I believe the people of the world share that a lot more now than 1000 years ago. There's a hell of a lot more people, but we're smaller and more connected because 1000 years ago, no one in Persia would have known about a comic in Europe.

So now when any little excuse to inflame hatred emerges, the fire spreads. Not only are some Arabs inflamed at Denmark (thinking that the country is to blame, not the artist), but at Britain, the U.S., Israel, and Canada will come next. So this really isn't about a stupid comic.

People like to label themselves to give them a sense of identity, especially within groups, cultures and religions. It gives them a purpose in life, a reason to exist. Over thousands of years, wars have been fought over religion, power, territorial control to try and create a better society for a particular group because someone thinks they know how to do it best or claims they have a closer understanding with whomever their God is.

I'm sick of all this intolerance. Every religion has it's fanatics, but I just hope that the very large majority in those religious aren't shut out, that those religious leaders who represent them, with faith in humanity speak up and say "love thy neighbour".

All in all, during this time we've been searching for truth.

But the truth is, we're all on this little blue marble together orbiting a big ball of fire, spiraling on a big arm being swept around a big black hole.

And we're trying to make our lives better and easier. So why don't we just simply make our lives better, not just for us, but for those around us and on this planet?

I just hope that our blue marble stays blue.