This weekend I watched THE STONING OF SORAYA M. Have you seen it? If not, you must. A lot will say it is directed strictly toward the bad treatment of women in the Middle East. Some will say it is just depicting the religion of Islam. Most are appalled.
It is about those things but few see that it is also about us. It is about all of us around the world who allow ego, hatred, greed, jealousy, religious interpretation, politics and differences to rule our lives.
Stop a minute and think about women or men who have committed no crime but that you believe you hate enough to cast the first stone, then put their face on Soraya M. and see if your still feel that badly toward them.
ouch. I have cast only verbal stones, but I will stop to think of this before I do it again.
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ReplyDeleteVery good points. I can't - and don't - hate anyone. No matter how much someone pisses me off, I always try to think about what they might be going through.
ReplyDeleteI just saw the preview - and my heart ached for her.
ReplyDeleteThere are those I hate and fear, i.e. Bin Laden, gangmembers or any others who commit felony crimes; a woman and her husband who stole a great deal of money from me and then laughed at me in Court, and continue to operate their business in the same dishonest manner, etc.
Yet my primary wish is that we all managed to better achieve peace amongst ourselves and our nations.
I don't think Soroya committed a crime. I think what happenned to her is hideous, the ignorance and venom.
Yet if all of them were to be stoned in turn as justice, is anything really learned?
Yet how do you deal with those who committ crimes?
Where is the origin of what is right and what is wrong?
Who gets to decide -- and enforce ?
I believe God as I interpret Him is a loving God. So surely he does not condone actions of hate.
The karma these people who stoned her have accrued is one that cannot be escaped.
Is it only by learning and changing that we escape ignorance?
That we replace willful blindness with conscious choice?
I don't know how to answer your question, Grannie.
Great post.
Kenju -- I asked that question because it is something I need to do myself. We can really think we hate someone until we have to issue some critical consequences for that person then we must temper our anger with some kind of understanding.
ReplyDeleteRiot Kitty -- It is usually a good thing to try to put ourselves in other people's shoes but it is a difficult thing to do because we think our shoes are better.
Loving Annie -- I want to believe that people like Bin Laden and Saddam Husein were born evil but I think they were allowed and even encouraged to be evil for the benefits that would befall their supporters. Until we all can quit joining the hate mongers we won't be able to stop them. Such a small taste of it came to me in the corporate workplace and as I climbed to the glass ceiling I had women as well as men shoving me back in order to gain their own success. The bigger the prize the more difficult right choices become.
Hatred is such an ugly emotion. It robs us of our humanity. I have been angry at those who wronged me, but I don't believe I ever hated them; certainly not enough to cast real stones.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do admit to casting verbal stones and need to monitor my words.
Darlene -- I believe we were all misled as children with the rhyme "Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me". We are learning, as we see young people react to bullying in schools, that words can cause irreversible damage. My mother told me never to write down anything I didn't want anyone else to see and never to say something I would regret because words once spoken can never be retrieved.
ReplyDeleteI watched a documentary the other day on "honor killings" as they've become to be known and it just tore me up. I still haven't recovered from watching it. We have had a couple of these types of murders here in Canada as the Muslim population has grown.
ReplyDeletePeople are WAY too prone to abuse and cruelty. The "trend" continues and it scares me. I could never hate anyone enough to cast the first "stone". That takes fore-thought and any HUMANE person's rage would pass given a moment. I think that the urge to cast the literal stone is born from an innate feeling of Self Justified Righteousness.
ReplyDeleteTalon -- It is hard to believe what goes on in this 21st Century. Very little actual progress has been made on women's rights yet we are led to believe it has.
ReplyDeleteDana -- I have always said that we suffer much more from superiority complexes than inferiority complexes. Somehow we crave being one up on someone else.
It is my understanding that this form of punishment has been eliminated in some areas of the middle east due to pressure from the West as well as enlightenment. Yet it does go on in other areas where civilization has not evolved. These people are crueler than most animals. Christianity has its periods of cruelty to be forgiven as well. What you write is so true. Hate accomplishes nothing.
ReplyDeleteTabor -- Isn't it all horrific enough and then to have it done in the name of religion just packs a double whammy.
ReplyDeleteWhat's so interesting is when I do honestly stop for a moment like you said it's even harder to answer your question.
ReplyDeletePhysically I couldn't throw a stone at anyone, but figuratively I know I'm judgmental and I need to do better, thanks for the reality check.
1hose -- こちらは英語のみを記述します。 (Please write only English here)
ReplyDeleteBEM -- I could only write that post because I too cast verbal stones without thinking of the consequences on other human beings.
My friends say I'm too understanding, but that's only because I know I'm imperfect and make mistakes...and if I can forgive myself, why not forgive others? We all make mistakes.
ReplyDeleteIly -- Good for you my friend. We can all take a lesson from you:)
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