SIX MILLION.
Six million men, women, and children. There were families, workers, playmates, and lovers. Half a nation that is no more. What was their crime? Their Ancestry. Their genes. They were Jewish.
There were approximately six million other people that were killed during this time as well. They were killed for other misunderstandings and prejudgments. They were political prisoners, they were Gypsies, they were Homosexuals.. The Jews, however, were the only group of people that were killed for the mere reason that they were born.
From the early days Jews were merely misunderstood. “Why did they wear those hats?”, “Why didn’t they eat pork?”, “Why did so many of them have beards and wear black and white dress up suits as normal clothes?” These minor misunderstandings lead to the slaughtering of an entire people! These individuals began to be thought of as something less than people.
….Fast forward about 70 years….
I am welcomed into a Muslim’s home one night for dinner. A Muslim from Afghanistan. My first response was that I was scared. I was scared because I did not understand them. I was scared because “they wear those hats wrapped around their heads”, “They have big beards” and because someone associated with them flew into the world trade centers. To be honest, I’m not sure I ever really wanted to meet any Muslims.
Thoughts like the ones mentioned above are the cornerstones that, through decades of people building blocks of assumptions on top of, leads to the degradement of a human life. This is how the holocaust all got started.
I am now so incredibly honored that I have had the privilege of meeting so many muslims. They have shown me more kindness and hospitality than I have ever received by strangers in my life! They have shown so much respect towards me, as a woman, towards me as a follower of Jesus, even towards me as an American. It humbles me to think how many not so respectful thoughts I have had towards their culture in the past.
Maybe you’ve never had these feelings towards Muslims, but what about Homosexuals, Arabs, Blacks, Mexicans, Lepers, even people with the swine flu!
I want to be a part of a movement that defies death by loving at all costs. This movement holds judgments on a specific person just because they belong to a certain people group. This movement loves unconditionally and knows no boundaries. When questions and misunderstandings and judgments arise, the answer is love. LOVE IS THE ANSWER.
