Thursday 23 May 2013

Racial tension .

Imagine a housing estate full of small children and dogs. One family gets fed up with the noise from his next door neighbour and chucks a half brick over one day...the neighbour throws an even bigger brick back and a chain of aggression soon follows....

And so it is with families throughout the world...one act of aggression fosters dozens more until a full scale battle ensues.

I was very sad to read about the killing of a British soldier in London yesterday....the hatred shown by the men doing the killing dismays me and the answer can not be to wade in and kill someone else!

On my recent journey I had many conversations with a person who like me had taught Muslims. I told her that during my ten years teaching in Rochdale I had never had any problems with my pupils and that they like and respected all of us . When I said that they jumped up to carry my bags when they were heavy she snorted...it had not been like that in Leicester.

We settled down one day to discuss the differences. My pupils were the first wave of immigrants . They were anxious to learn English and discussed their religious beliefs with me in a true and generous exchange of views. We liked each other!

Her experience was very different. The children had been aggressive, cheeky and hard to teach.

We tried to work out what had gone wrong and the answer was of course 9.11. The bombing of the twin towers changed the world in an instant.

Since then we have sent troops into Iraq and Ahfganistan . This is war on a global scale whilst at home individuals seek to redress the balance in mindless acts of violence.

If there is an answer then it can only come from individuals expressing their grief in terms of love.

The Koran is a Holy book which does not advocate violence. Most Muslims as most Christians are capable of loving each other...When Jesus said "Love one another " I think he meant everyone....not just people who held the same beliefs.

I know that the young men and women I taught would be horrified by our distrust of each other. It's time to bring our young men home surely. I still believe in my inner hippie core. "Make love not war"

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