Skip to main content

Terror Can’t Live in a House of Love


As with 9/11, this last week weighs heavily on so many of us.  Obviously all of the ISIS attacks and the humans lost, families mourning are top of mind.  Each day my heart gets heavier when hate and rhetoric spew from people in my own circles, out of what I believe can only be mishandled fear.

I have actively and passionately thrown facts and love in the face of each hurl of bigotry and ignorance I witness.  I believe we can neutralize negativity with extreme light and love.  Yet in the wake of these efforts remains a lingering disappointment for some of the people I have respected and cared about throughout my life. 

I won’t be quiet to sidestep conflict any longer. 

I won’t accept excuses of age, fear and statements like “people don’t change – no point in arguing”.

There is a HUGE point to argue.

Terrorists rely on fear, divisiveness and hate to facilitate their goals. Terror can’t live in a house of love.   I refuse to be afraid of ISIS.  They are radical extremists who may even be mentally ill, as violent Christian extremists in our history often have been.  Those who truly stamp fear on my heart are the friends, family and colleagues who allow their own fear and acceptance of rhetoric to make them less than the people I believed them to be. 


I enjoy and invite a good debate with people who have different ideas and beliefs.  I always learn from it, am a better human each time my world expands.  I have never unfriended any of you for having a respectful difference of opinion with me. 

With ignorance and hate rhetoric attached to the conversation of Muslims, I will not accept you or make excuses for you. 


Bigotry and rhetoric are not welcome in my circles.  

Hate and terror will never live in my house.  


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

It Only Takes One

My son's daycare had five amazing, 8-foot sunflowers growing in their garden this summer.  My own sunflowers didn't do very well so we asked if we could have some of the seeds from daycare to plant in our garden next summer.  Shawna began to harvest the seeds from the faces of the sunflowers.  She took some home with her and a creature destroyed most of them - only a few remaining in their shells.  She returned to daycare to learn that the heads of the remaining sunflowers had been stolen right off their stalks in the yard of the daycare.  The ladies were upset and disappointed that they might not be able to carry on the tradition of their sunflowers. Cornell Sunflower - see the attempt at taping the stem ... When my husband got home from work today he told me their story and asked,"hey - do you have any more of those books with the 'Cornell Sunflower' story?"  A story I wrote was published by 'Chicken Soup' and the similarities to th...

Elvis the Cat

Elvis the cat went missing last Thursday night.   For 14 years Elvis the Cat lived with me indoors. He was afraid of the outside.   Due to kidney disease, he has been living on borrowed time but was still vibrant, fat and happy.   Lately, he seemed desperate to get outside.   I had been warned he might run away to die.      I searched for two days and nights, was sad, and began to look back …. We met at a farm in 1999.   He was undernourished, with mites and fleas.   I was embarking on a new, independent life.   We knew instantly that we belonged to each other.   I nursed him back to life – physically, and he nourished my spirit.   I didn’t hear him meow for the first few years of his life.   I always thought it was because I saw to his every need before he knew he had it.   At night, he would sleep curled in my arms.   If he heard a noise, he would perch on the end of my bed between me and a potenti...

Cornell Community Soup

“Cornell Community Soup” is more than just a metaphor for the melting pot of cultures, religions, beliefs and politics we embody.  The Village of Cornell is nestled in the eastern boarder of Markham, Ontario, surrounded by sister villages that continue the tradition of service and support throughout the community.  I have lived on my block in Cornell for 16 years.  Bigger houses with lower prices from the north continue to tempt, yet the warm hug of this community always keeps us home.  In anticipation of another exciting Blue Jay’s post season game, a pot of turkey soup is simmering on our stove.  Turkey from the Markham Butcher , and carrots and garlic from Reesor Farm .  Both local small business run by families who suffered losses this month.  The Markham Butcher and his wife lost their precious baby son earlier this month.  An unfathomable tragedy.  Reesor Farm was   targeted by trespassers and looters  on Thanksgiving Mon...