My Current Opinion - by Guy Spiro

It is a common misconception that the opposite of love is hate. But these two strongest of human emotions have in common an intensity that makes them more alike than different. The truth is that the opposite of love and hate is indifference. Indifference has no care for the security and joy or the injustice and misery experienced by others. Western developed countries, and America in particular, have had the luxury of insulation from many of the harsher realities in the world. This has made it easy to live our lives largely unaware and indifferent to the suffering in much of the world. September 11th changed all of that.

War has been declared, and the first major attack has been perpetrated, against us. There are none of us who have not been at least indirectly affected. Those who have attacked us will undoubtedly seek to harm us further and we have no choice but to respond. The question is -- how?

First we must identify who this enemy is and who it is not. Because the perpetrators are from the Islamic world and claim to represent Islam, it is an easy knee jerk reaction to see Islam as the enemy. This reaction is incorrect. Basing our response on it would bring the result of making it so. This is what our foes hope to accomplish. They seek to unite the Islamic world under their leadership. If they can provoke us into blindly and foolishly lashing out, they have some hope of success. They do not care how many of their own they sacrifice. But we must know that they do not represent Islam.

Osama Bin-Laden and those of his kind seek to take advantage of the problems that beset much of the Islamic world. History has not been kind to what was once the most advanced culture on Earth. There are several reasons for this. One is simply the cyclical nature of life. Dominant cultures rise and fall and ours will also pass in the fullness of time. More problems arise from the lingering results of colonialism and the very poorly handled dismantling of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. In more recent times we have the Israeli-Palestinian quagmire in which hatred is fueled both from within and without. There is also the result of corporatism in the form of petroleum for the West regardless of the welfare of the people of the region.

The poverty of the region in the face of the prosperity in the West, in addition to all of the rest of this, has created fertile soil for those who, for their own advancement, preach hatred. These preachers of hate are a small minority who have seized the opportunity for power. They prey upon their own people in the name of their religion and have perverted it to their own ends. Dissent of any kind is not tolerated and responsible voices are silenced as they rise. Unfortunately for the people under their domination and for the rest of the world, the fruits of hatred are bitter. Hatred is a poison that affects both the hated and the hater. This is true in all cases and it is imperative that we not fall prey to it ourselves.

There is a common phrase in Arabic that goes something like "trust in Allah but first tie your camel." Yes, we must tie our camel--that is, we are forced now to deal with those who wage war against us. This must be done with all of the resources and yet all of the wisdom that we can bring to bear. There is great suffering in much of the Islamic world, and no one nation has a greater capacity than we do to help improve their quality of life. Much of their current leadership, in lust for power, heaps ever more misery on their own people. But this is a tiny--although powerful--minority within the Islamic world. It is only against them that we must wage war. We can win the hearts and minds of the common people by waging peace. With our help, the greater Islamic world can rise up and free itself from the tyranny currently imposed upon it.

We no longer have the option of indifference. We must choose between returning hatred in kind or operating out of love. The first can plunge humanity into unimaginable darkness and pain. The second can further the goal of a humanity living in peace, harmony and tolerance for all cultures.

Love and the light of consciousness is the real answer. For those of us involved in such things, it is now as important as ever to join in the various global prayer and meditation initiatives as well as to continue to pursue peace through love in our own private thoughts and actions.

In the words of Ghandi, "We must become the change we seek in the world."