Muslim Stamp Emails - I take Great Issue.

 

As I currently live in Asia and I admit to being out of sync with some of the current hot topics in the US.  My source of info is from friends, family and the internet.  Occasional CNN but even that is  dribble for the most part. 

One of the emails that I have been receiving is in reference to the Muslim Holiday Stamp and asking for a protest of its existence in our “American” world. 

To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of Pan Am Flight 103!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine Barracks in Lebanon !

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Military Barracks in Saudi Arabia !

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies in Africa !

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on 9/11/2001 !

REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks!

Pass this along to every Patriotic American that you know and get the word out!  Honor the United States of America !

Really.  I love you – those of you that sent me the email and I respect your right to feel what you feel.  I just honestly wish that we as Americans were able to look at what this is saying and realize that it is a GROSS injustice to the Muslim people and to our own country and faith. 

I feel it is very narrow minded to think that a group of radicals, fanatics, freaks condemn one of the largest religious groups on the planet.  Not just the middle east or Mediterranean but the WHOLE PLANET. 

I did some research on this stamp (which by the way, the photo is not the stamp released by the USPS notice Zazzle.com) and it was originally released prior to 9/11.  It is a short term release to honor  Muslim holidays: the end of Ramadan and the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims do not celebrate Christmas, this is a Christian Holiday.

I have many Muslim friends and I know that I am very ignorant to many aspects of their faith.  This is what I do know…they are the most generous and loving people.  They are fantastic parents and great coworkers. They don’t have an easy way of things, specially in today’s hostile world. MUSLIM AMERICANs.  You can be both and to say that the only holiday’s allowed to be recognized is Christian holidays is just, well, frankly, UNAMERICAN.

The Muslims do not recognize Christ as the Son of God just as the Catholics don’t recognize The Book of Mormons as religious scripture.  Baptist see the statues and icons of the Catholic/Orthodox as idol worship.  

 Every religion has its KOOKs.  Take a moment to think of the “Witch Trials” of Europe and America.  Take a moment to think of the raiding of Jerusalem and the Holy Land in the name a British King, to save a the religious rites from the heathens.  The Missionaries that settled (raped/enslaved/stole) from Africa, India, Australia, etc.  it's rather a large leap from there to blaming all Muslims and the Islamic faith in general for those atrocities. The present Turkish government has limited the ability of the Orthodox to practice in one of the oldest Antiochian churches on the planet.  Turkey = Constantinople. 

Anyone can take a religion and make it into a weapon.  My choice is to NOT define a group by its fanatics.   All white people are evil because we have the highest ration of serial killers? 

I am a proud American.  I am a Military Brat, I was active duty for several years, I am American.  I proudly tell people I am American as I am traveling around Asia (well, unless I am behaving badly then….I am Canadian). 

Please take a moment and look at what you are sending to people before you forward it. I am proud of what America is and hope for her to continue to evolve but narrow minded, dare I say, uneducated information sent out does nothing to make her stand tall in today’s mass media feed society.

The Lost Art of Courtesy

(Disclaimer:  The following may be offensive to some. If you think you recognize yourself in the following, please be aware that I may have been talking about you.  Everyone one of the following incidents are real and represent real people.)

I am on a rant this morning.  High and holy foul rant.  For the sake of my loved ones I am going to give you the PG 13 version of my mindset. 

What happened to Courtesy?  I mean really with all the gizmo’s and gadgets that are available to the modern public, how freaking difficult is it to take a few seconds out of  your life to call, text, IM, email, snail mail, Facebook, Tweet or whatever the new method of communication that is starting NOW. 

I am so fed up with the lack of courtesy. 

Recently I had sent a text to someone that I was trying to coordinate an event for later in the day.  The text clearly stated, call and let me know what time.  I know that people are busy and well, sometimes the CALL is just too much possibility for time consumption.  A text or alternate form of communication would be perfectly acceptable.  We are not “breaking up'” or there hasn’t been a death or tragedy so a lighter form of communication is perfectly within reason.  The key here is communication in any form.  So I being Party 1 wait for Party 2 to COMMUNICATE.  I got nothing. 

This scenario though frustrating is minor but seems to be a reoccurring one.  This event was insignificant and will or will not take place.  No one will DIE if it doesn’t.  What got my dander up is that I feel like the simple Courtesy of Communication is lost to society.  In the fast pace “go get ‘em” culture that we live in, basic courtesy seem to a bygone art.

The lack of the courtesy call is probably one of my biggest pet peeves.  If you are running late – call.  If you are going out with the boys and not coming home till 3am – call.  If you are bring 5 extra people to dinner instead of one – call.  Be it husband, plumber, property manager, best friend, cable guy, cleaning lady, deliver person, tailor – CALL.  I understand that we all have things that happen that throw us off schedule….but the minute it takes to make the call will not only allow me to alter my schedule - it will also spare you from my hours, if not days, of hostility. 

Which brings me to the Courtesy Flush, if you are over the age of puberty, you know when Mother Nature is going to turn your body into a Southern Born, Flame Rippen, Banjo player……

OUT OF ORDER

 

I am just a bit in a funk at the moment. 

We just spent three great weeks stateside with family and friends for the holidays.  I am back in China and trying to reorient my disorientation of the Orient. 

Lots to share, making an outline of what I want to say.

Back up and running.

Bare with me and my funk.

Nanjing Massacre Memorial

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

On Dec. 13, 1937 marked the beginning of the Japanese invasion of Nanjing, China.  In the following six weeks approximately 300,000 people were slaughtered in some of the most horrific ways ever imagined.  The 100,000’s of other people that were injured, raped and displaced.  If not for the extreme efforts of a dozen expats that lived in Nanjing the numbers would be astronomically higher. 

The Japanese marched into the city of Nanjing, both land and air assaults from the east.  The Chinese troops fought back but to no avail.  The invaders slaughtered everyone in their path:  civilian, military, man, woman, elderly and infants.  The bodies were left in the streets. The massacre is also referred to  as the Rape of Nanjing.  An untold number of females, I use females as opposed to women due to the ages of females effected were infant to elderly, were sexually assaulted and/or murdered.  

During this time there were several expats, American, German, Australian.  John Rabe, a German businessman who was a member of the Nazi Party, saved thousands by harboring them on his property.  Several of the expats lived in the community as  missionaries, businessmen and medical aide.  The ones that were able to travel out of the area smuggled video, photos and letters to the various embassies looking for help for the citizens of Nanjing.

Much of the photo documentation that was present to the world was “souvenir” photos taken by the Japanese to bring back to Japan to boast to their countrymen.  One story is of a young child who was not slaughtered and working in a photo printing shop.  The Japanese would bring the shop film and  the child would print copies and hide them till he could get them to one of the “safe” zones.  If not for his bravery many of the horrific events would never have been brought to light. 

The Japanese were eventually brought to trial, with several of them executed, however, the Japanese have not ever acknowledge the massacre as actually occurring and have stated that the atrocities have been greatly embellished by the Chinese. 

I spent my afternoon wandering around the memorial this past Sunday. The memorial is located at one of the mass graves that the Japanese used to dispose of over 10,000 souls.  The memorial started as a construction site when the bodies were being excavated, however, due to mass quantity of remains, removal was halted and the area was developed as a memorial to the events.  There is a large museum on the grounds with many items found at the site and donated by the survivors.  It is very graphic but very professional presented.  Those of you that have never been to a Chinese museum need to know that many of them are well, tacky and amateurish. This is not but it is full of  photos of the deceased and the atrocities committed. There are several statues around the grounds.  Including two cast from two women that were survivors of the “sex clubs” and foot prints of other survivors.  Two building are actually exposed areas of the burial pits.  One is shaped like a Chinese coffin, which the Chinese rarely use any longer, cremation is the burial of choice or necessity, I am not sure.  The larger of the two is a walkway around one of the excavation areas with dozens of remains exposed, from this room you walk back out into a courtyard with a  prayer area and an eternal flame.  Walk through the next doorway and you are in the room of lights, it has mirrored  walls and several hanging lights creating a massive space of 1000’s of lights – out the door way is a reflective pool with a large statue entitled Peace.  

The walk into the memorial grounds is a bit complicated.  It is full of modern statuary in a long reflective pool.  There are a dozen of pieces each representing people affected during the Invasion. 

I debated for several days on what or if to post anything here about the Memorial.  I decided obviously to post.  As we are remembering the Attack on Pearl Harbor and the Holidays are in full swing.  I think it is important to remember the previous generations struggles and sacrifices.  I am writing to tell anyone who reads this about the Nanjing Massacre.  Previous to moving to China, I was ignorant to China’s struggles.  Chairman Mao was a cartoon figure to my generation…one of the big bad Communist.  Russians were evil, Cuba was evil and China - evil.  Now, I have hosted exchange students from Moscow, I would love to hang out on a Cuban beach and I think I may be a little Chinese in my soul.  

Time keeps on Slipping Slipping Slipping…into the Future.

I know I haven’t spent nearly enough time or effort here.  I have only a few weeks and I am making my first real trip back to the US.  Those of you may go….you went for Nicole’s wedding.  Well, you are right but I don’t count that as a US trip  as true trip home.  My total time spent in the actual US was in a hotel room off of the O’Hare Airport for about 14 hours.  There was no Taco Bell, no shopping and no Sonic.  Okay, so I guess you can guess that I am missing crap American foods. 

Bill, Derek and I fly out the second week of December and will not return to China until early January.  I am so excited to spend some time with our family and friends. 

I have noticed that I am in this rut though while I countdown the days to our holiday.  I cannot get out of China fast enough.  It is just a mental drain to go out and deal with the Chinese.  The haggling, endless searching for items that were available last week and have disappeared this week.  I am just wiped. 

Today, a friend and I went to find coco powder, mozzarella cheese and some other various items.  It took three stops at expat minded grocery stores and we still didn’t find everything.  Fortunately the stuff we cannot find can be substituted, something that you do often.  Julia Childs has nothing on us. 

Time keeps on slipping slipping into the future…just not fast enough.

WTF

So I was randomly wandering around Yahoo this afternoon and saw these two photos.  This is the 1st Sam’s Club to open in China.  It is in a town called Guangzhou whish is much more expat oriented than Nanjing.  The Walmart in Nanjing is very disappointing if you are hoping to walk into a westernized business…however, I have not seen any crocodile for sell in the deli area.  TIC!

A decoration sets up in front of Walmart's first Sam's Club during the opening ceremony in China's southern city, Guangzhou Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009.

(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Crocodiles are on sale at Walmart's first Sam's Club after the opening ceremony in China's southern city, Guangzhou Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009.

(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)