Getting Along -- Rosh Hashanah Thoughts – the Middle East in Crisis

The essence of a free man is to have the ability to speak one's thoughts no matter how odious BUT for the first time in my life where the issue of an anti-Islamic film that has wreaked so much havoc, where SO many lives hang in the balance and where countries have weapons of mass destructive capability I ask those who would be critical of Islam to HOLD YOUR TONGUE.

Further, I cannot help thinking that the persons who made the accursed film, who conceived the dubbing of it, who turned it into a hateful piece of disrespect to Islam and the Prophet who means SO much to over a billion people, had something to do with trying to hurt the president's re-election as they are desperate.  I love rational thought for PROOF of reality BUT it is odd to me that this event happened so close to the presidential election. 

I HOPE the FBI and other law enforcement officials investigate this film to within an inch of its life. NO ONE has the right with their speech to incite mayhem and by that speech tear societies apart yelling "fire" in a crowded theater!

In our culture most people who want to hate and hurt others have the right to speak. One hopes, in a land with free speech, the haters will be outnumbered by those of us who want to rationally encourage the opposite -- hope, love and tolerance for our fellow man. 

I hope more is spoken by the Islamic world to help understand in calm the underpinnings of their rage. I believe it goes beyond the dastardly film. The people of Islam are hurting and I do not blame them for that. We must understand each other as the essence of the monotheistic beliefs imparts. Jesus instructs:

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind’: This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

The Jewish sage Rabbi Hillel says when he explains the essence of Judaism:

"What is hateful to thee, do not do unto thy fellowman; this is the whole Law. The rest is but commentary."

The Prophet Mohammad, blessed be his name, even though I do not know Islam I am sure carries the same thought as most of us TRY to take the good of the faiths to teach our fellow man how to simply just get along.

A fervent wish on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish solemn New Year) for a healthy, happy and more peaceful world!