Earlier on I said Happy Easter. What I really mean to say is Happy Easter and Passover. I hope I am not forgetting any others.
Friday was good friday and a few days ago I would have posted a note saying Happy Good Friday but maybe I felt "Happy" was the wrong word to use.
Growing up, Good Friday was always a sad day for me. Whether or not you belive in Christ, you must admit that a guiltless man or any man for that matter being crucified is sad and upsetting. It is just as upsetting when you know that Christ wanted to teach the world about love, compassion, forgiveness, and being non-judgmental. However, he ended up being tortured and killed for his troubles.
In light of this, I'm going to post an old essay I wrote, a little while ago which discusses the judgmental people of the world and how petty it is to judge someone just because they're different. Have a peaceful evening everyone.

"Why all the intolerence"

Ever since the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center, tensions have been high. People seem to be more and more paranoid, people are afraid of flying, and in general, people are scared for the next shoe to drop. The problem that I personally fear is the intolerance that rears its ugly head when such an act occurs.
In other words, Im afraid of the fallout of hatred that will undoubtedly come afterwards. Ill give you an example. After the attack on the WTC, North Americans, not only in the United States but also in Canada lashed out at people who resembled the people responsible for the attack. Innocent people were discriminated against, simply because they seemed to look like the terrorists that were being shown on television.
As compassionate people, we need to be aware that we cannot make broad generalizations and we must not give into hate. Whenever someone makes callous generalizations about another individual, I'd like to know what they're basing their generalizations on? Is it because they saw it on tv? Is it because thats what they were brought up with?
I think people's generalizations would greatly change if they were able to spend some time with the people that they are judging. When people in North America are screaming "Death to Afghanistan" or when people in Islam countries scream "Death to America", what is the basis of their hatred?
I would like to see someone from Afghanistan who vowed to kill the Americans, sit down and have dinner with a working class family. Would it be as easy to destroy them then? What about an American who wants to nuke all of Islam? If they were to sit down with a family from Afghanistan, would they still be as aggressive?
These are simple and obvious points. But it is very easy to judge people with whom you have no contact with. From far away, individuals are easy to judge because they look so one-dimensional and simple. But up-close, individuals are far harder to judge, because then you see all of their complexities. Everyone wants to look at their children and see them safe and sound whether they live in the western world or whether they live in the Islamic world. I'm not saying that everybody in the world is full of good will, because obviously that is not the case. I guess I'm saying that judging people whom you've never met is too easy and also very dangerous. So please, before you judge someone harshly, take a step back. They may have more in common with you than you think. Thanks for listening