Why I'm Here

To be perfectly honest, this blog was my Pastor/Rabbi's wife's idea. She wanted me to find a way to share with the congregation my extra-curricular activities. She is well-aware of my left-leaning tendancies, and in fact, feels we can learn from them. For one, I have been exposed to a lot of people from different cultures and religions, and now can claim to have a wider base of friends as a result. They include devout Quakers and hijab-wearing Muslims. In fact, when the Islamic holy month of Ramadan ended a couple of weeks ago, one of my Muslim friends invited me to celebrate with her. Together we ate a festive dish, a sweet bowl of noodles, milk, honey, and nuts. We compared notes on our religious customs, and agreed that we need to focus on what we have in common. When we can understand each other without analysing through the lenses of our respective traditions, we can learn a lot. When someone is "other" it is really easy to start making generalizations and assumptions.