Community Columnist: Having the courage to be compassionate
By Stewart Shaw

In one of his more memorable poems, 20th century American poet Robert Frost wrote that “good fences make good neighbors.” But friendships or enmities are forged by what goes over those fences. Whether we lob shells and bombs or listen to and talk to our neighbors affects our safety.

Modern technology and communications have made the world like a small village. What happens anywhere affects people everywhere. We are all neighbors. America no longer enjoys the safety of the oceanic barriers that once isolated us from troubles in the other hemisphere. As the world’s richest nation, we have an obligation, as well as self-interest, to be involved everywhere. Whether it happens in Pakistan, Turkey, Burma, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Afghanistan or wherever, it impacts us. And what we do and say here in America, and whether we listen to our neighbors and speak to them, changes the world.
That was the premise of the community forum, “Building a Safer and More Compassionate World,” sponsored by the League of Women Voters and several other local organizations last month. Panelists identified actions that we can take, and words that we can speak, right here in Winona, that will contribute to a safer and therefore better world.

Police officer Kevin Kearny counseled reaching out and talking to people about their needs. Project FINE director Fatima Said, said that tolerance, mutual respect, interaction and communication will improve our world. A member of the Human Rights Commission, Susan Brown, encouraged attendance and participation in local cross-cultural events as a way to understand and appreciate people who are different. Critical of the war in Iraq, Winona County commissioner Dwayne Voegeli asserted that our foreign policy is making terrorists faster than we can kill them. He advocated sending teachers instead of soldiers to countries where there are

problems.

Practitioners of the politics of fear alarm us with their sweeping generalizations. They conclude that all Muslims are enemies. Rumors that the Koran proclaims that if infidels refuse to be converted to the faith they should be killed abound.

As coincidence would have it, on the evening before the forum on making the world safer and more compassionate, Ahmed El-Afandi, professor emeritus of political science at Winona State University, presented the basics of Islam to a crowded audience of members of the Senior Friendship Center and the Learning Club. Like Christianity, he said, Islam is a “proselytizing” religion. But the faithful have met their obligation to obey Allah by attempting to persuade us of the truth of Islam. In fact, advocating killing those who refuse to be converted is a perversion of the Koran; it is not authentic teaching. I concluded that Muslims are forbidden to behave like the Christian conquerors of the native peoples of Central and South America.

Noted author and former nun Karen Armstrong observed that what Islam and Christianity as well as all of the other great religions of the world have in common is an emphasis on compassion. We are not only to love God, but also to love our neighbors as ourselves. El-Afandi said the most basic moral principle of Islam is one which is familiar to Christians — do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Perhaps it should not be surprising that evil people invoke portions of their faith traditions to justify their malicious behavior. Hitler had “Gott mit Uns” (God with us) inscribed on the belt buckles of Nazi soldiers. Some proponents of war, as a way of resolving international disputes, claim that their faith instructs their opinions.

Never mind that Christianity’s central figure is known as the Prince of Peace. No wonder that the Middle Eastern terrorists pervert Islamic teachings in attempts to make their efforts accepted.

Members of the audience at the making the world safer and more compassionate forum were invited to subscribe to the following recommendations of the 9/11 commission:

“We should offer an example of moral leadership in the world, committed to treat people humanely, abide by the rule of law and be generous and caring of our neighbors.

“The U.S. should rebuild the scholarship, exchange and library programs that reach out to young people and offer them knowledge and hope.

“A comprehensive strategy to counter terrorism should include economic policies that encourage development, more open societies and opportunities for people to improve the lives of their families and to enhance prospects for their children’s future.”

Getting to know and understand people of different cultures and religions, and getting to know people as individuals rather than treating them as stereotypes, requires allowing ourselves to accept a little vulnerability. And allowing ourselves to become vulnerable requires courage. In contrast belligerence, hostility and prejudice are results of a cowardly unwillingness to accept vulnerability.

Stewart Shaw is a former Winona State University registrar who is getting a second education in retirement. He also volunteers for several local organizations.

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