Yesterday we spent part of the day putting up various framed "street art" I've collected from the assorted places we have travelled: an abstract in purples from Edinburgh, Scotland - a lithograph from Montreal - as well as a few prints from Canada's "school of seven" artists. Today we're working on a collection of pictures of Dianne and myse
lf for the family wall. We've had shots of our daughters at their weddings as well as childhood vacations next to pictures of our parents - so now we need something that grounds us in the clan, too!Listening to Joni - and sorting through family pictures - brought my mind back to today's column by Nicholas Kristoff in the Times. He is to my way of thinking one of the most thoughtful and compassionate contemporary writers working today. Often when it comes to things I hold dear - family, faith and community - Kristoff is my "go to guy" - and today he writes:
Osama abhors the vision of interfaith harmony that the proposed Islamic center represents. He fears Muslim clerics who can cite the Koran to denounce terrorism. It’s striking that many American Republicans share with Al Qaeda the view that the West and the Islamic world are caught inevitably in a “clash of civilizations.” Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric who recruits jihadis from his lair in Yemen, tells the world’s English-speaking Muslims that America is at war against Islam. You can bet that Mr. Awlaki will use the opposition to the community center and mosque to try to recruit more terrorists.
In short, the proposed community center is not just an issue on which Sarah Palin and Osama bin Laden agree. It is also one in which opponents of the center are playing into the hands of Al Qaeda.
After posing the right question about this mean-spirited and manufactured controversy, Kristoff cuts to the chase:
These opponents seem to be afflicted by two fundamental misconceptions. The first is that a huge mosque would rise on hallowed land at ground zero. In fact, the building would be something like a YMCA, and two blocks away and apparently out of view from ground zero. This is a dense neighborhood packed with shops, bars, liquor stores — not to mention the New York Dolls Gentlemen’s Club and the Pussycat Lounge (which says that it arranges lap dances in a private room, presumably to celebrate the sanctity of the neighborhood).
Why do so many Republican
s find strip clubs appropriate for the ground zero neighborhood but object to a house of worship? Are lap dances more sanctified than an earnest effort to promote peace?Time and again I find that spending time with my family in quiet and loving ways opens my heart to how the distractions and fears that command so much energy and attention in our generation are mostly crazy and hate-filled. And listening to Joni work her magic with music and words reinforces how important it is for me to nourish the soul in these damaged and weary days. I give thanks to God for the privilege and opportunity for rest before getting back into the fray as a tender warrior for compassion and coexistence.
We call them the "Group of Seven" up here, and Joni is certainly a poet of lasting brilliance. My favourite is "River", followed closely by "Amelia".
ReplyDeleteOooos, Peter, I knew that and mistakenly said "school" rather than "group." I love them... I got very turned on last year reading and viewing their works in the museum in Montreal. And OMG... river is just the best.
ReplyDeleteNo problem, James. Actually, they represent one of the few cultural resistance movements in Canada that wasn't against American influences, but rather against British/European cultural influences. They were trying to get away from the gravitational pull of European art, and largely succeeded.
ReplyDeleteActually, Emily Carr, the British Colombian artist, was in fairly close contact with them and contributed a huge legacy of painting and writing to that period.