Inspiration, Yet Again

Listened to a young man named Eboo Patel at a nearby college last night, the crowd almost palpably yearning to hear some common sense and guidance as they consider how to push back against the rising tide of hatred against Muslims in this country. Here is a link to Eboo's Interfaith Youth Core http://www.ifyc.org/about_core/staff

Memorable quotes...."if your enemy is Muslim extremism, and you always talk about Muslims, you are focusing on the wrong word." "I think the reason people in this country love the poet Rumi so much is ... he's like Whitman!" "In America, we do not hate people because of their religion...we just don't." "It's not going to be easy, but the forces of inclusion will overcome the forces of hate." "The foundation of Islam is mercy, so if you are looking at five verses in the Koran about mercy and five verses in the Koran about killing infidels, the more important verses are the ones about mercy."

I'm struck by how little I know about Islam, about how interesting its history is, and about how intertwined its history actually is with the development of the United States of America. Fascinating.