The Coming Times
The Muslim Grieves
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And I peer into the globe
And I see little people, so very many, so very little people
And they are angry, angry they are
And I see that they are demonstrating
And yes they are demonstrating against the Mother
They do not want her referenced
They wish no word mentioned of her
They do not want to hear her name
No not by their governments
Not by their schools
No not in their town squares
No not even on people’s lips
And they are demanding this!
Just as we are being told to no longer say "Merry Christmas"
But say "Happy Holidays" instead
So will we be told; no, we will be demanded
To no longer mention the Mother’s name
To no longer make reference of her
How can this be?
I look into the globe in puzzlement
How can such a situation arise
Free speech is a given
Religious freedom is a given
It is the law of the land
Both of these are fundamental and most closely guarded and cherished
Both as the Law of the Land
And as the fundamental right of the people
What is going on here?
And I look and I feel the people’s rage
They are angry
And I am reminded of the mob at Jesus’ crucifixion
How they were manipulated into demanding Jesus’ crucifixion
Why did they do so
How was it in their own interest to do so
Truly they were not doing their own thinking
Clearly they were being manipulated as sheep
Others had control of their minds
Others played them like violins
And they allowed themselves to be so played
They allowed
They allowed
And they actively participated in the unspeakable horror
That followed
They in fact were necessary players
It could not have happened without them
No the crucifixion of Jesus could not, would not have happened
Without the insistent demands, the very willing and active
Participation of the mob of angry people present
And a similar scenario is now being presented before my eyes
Oh Lord have mercy
I am seeing women dressed in black
Covered in black, the black garment of the Muslim women
And they are angrily decrying against reference to the Mother
But since when do the Muslim hate the Mother
This makes no sense at all
The Muslim have always shown great respect
And yes affection for the Mother of Jesus
What is this turn of events?
Tune into one of the women dear
Enter into her
Drop your fear, drop your revulsion, drop your prejudice
And enter into one of the women
Do so now
And I take my courage in my hands
And yes we are in Paris
Beautiful, lovely, elegant Paris
Paris being swarmed by these women
In their black robes that cover them from head to toe
And forgive me, my stomach recoils
And I remember my spirit’s instructions
To drop my prejudice, to drop my fear
And yes to drop my revulsion of all this ugly black
This symbol to me of the oppression, yea imprisonment, of womanhood
Yes drop it all; drop it all; drop it all
Pick a woman
And how unusual
The woman I am focused on
Has blue eyes!
She has clear white skin
She is clearly not an Arab
And yet she is Muslim
And yet she is covered from head to toe in black
In a large and loosely flowing black garment
That hides her, that hides her, that hides her
And I take a deep breath
For truly this is a bit much for me
And I look at this woman
And again her blue eyes startle me
She has chosen for this?
She was not born into this
She of her own free will, freely chosen for this
It staggers the imagination
It is beyond my comprehension
Truly it is beyond me
My stomach recoils; forgive me God, my stomach recoils
For one can have sympathy for women who are born into this
But for a woman to freely choose imprisonment
Why it is as preposterous, as obscene
As a black man freely, of his own free will, choosing for leg irons!
And yet, this woman I have focused on has done just that
And no she is not Arab
God help me, surely she cannot be French!
And oh my God, she is French
She is a native born French girl
Born to French parents
Raised French
And has married into the Muslim community
And has converted to the Muslim faith and way of life
And I stagger and I reel
And I remind myself that this is not about me
Focusing on my emotions and my reactions teach me nothing
- Please God, please God
Give me what I need to be clear
Give me what I need to listen, and yes to hear
What this French woman
Who has of her own free will
Decided to choose for the chador
Decided to turn her back on her country, on her culture
On her very way of life
Yes on the faith of her fathers
What is this French turned Moslem woman thinking
What is her motivation
What does she want
Oh my God can I do this
Can I do this
Can I do this
And again I clear myself
And I look at this woman’s eyes
And they are a clear blue
And I am reminded that I am not to look at her
Not look at her from the outside
But enter her
Experience her from within
And oh dear I have been stalling
Out of reluctance and dread I have been stalling
And now once more I take a deep breath for courage
And I now enter this young woman
And is see and I feel that she is energized
Yes she is empowered!
This march is energizing her; it is empowering her
She has a voice!
She is speaking
She who had been silent for so long
Is now shouting and is now being heard
She who had been invisible for so long
Now has the television cameras, the news cameras focused upon her
Yes! Yes! Yes!
She has never felt this good in her whole life
She has never had this much energy in her whole life
Yes she has demands
And yes her demands will be heard
And yes, yes, yes
Her demands will be met
Yes her demands must be met
For she and her sisters will not stop
No they will not stop
They will not ever stop
Until their demands are met in full
In full to the spirit, to the letter
And what are these their demands
And yes it is the complete and utter rejection
Of all that they see as opposition to their culture
Their way of life
Their view of life
And somehow, just how I cannot begin to imagine
The Virgin has become a symbol, an icon upon which they focus
She represents to them - what?
What is it
That the Virgin Mother
Whom the Moslem population has always shown respect
And reverence for
How is it that they have chosen the Virgin
Upon which to focus their rage, yes their strident demands
And yes I can feel the woman’s sense of power
For the first time in her life
She feels power
She feels powerful
And what a wonderful feeling power is!
What an energizing, exciting, vibrant feeling
Why she who had been numb, who had been as half-dead
Is now alive!
Yes she is alive!
She has power
They are listening to her
They must!
They are so many
And they march down the boulevards of Paris
And no the French people are too civilized to stop them
They will not shoot these women down
Of course not
The French people are a very civilized people
And they listen, they listen carefully to what these women are saying
And yes, they nod their heads in agreement
- Yes it is offensive to have another’s religion rubbed in one’s nose
Yes if one is not a Christian, it is truly offensive to see crèches at Christmas
No, the crèches must be brought down
No, the crèches must not be allowed on any public property
One must leave the people to do as they will
In the privacy and sanctity of their own homes
But in the public square, in the community centers
In the town hall, on the street
In the common area
The public domain is simply no place for scenes of Christianity
No, no place at all
And for some reason
The French do not think upon the fact
That in the Muslim countries
Public displays of the Muslim faith abound everywhere
And at all hours of the day
Yes the Muslim bells ring five times a day
And yes these bells are heard by all
Faithful and secular and non-Muslim alike
And no one takes offense
No one suggests that this is offensive
No one demands an immediate halt to this practice
But somehow this is overlooked
And the French government to keep the peace
For the French having experienced war
Having had their fill of war
Would avoid war at all cost
Will keep the peace at any price
And the French decide that yes
They understand the women’s position
- Public displays of a particular faith
Are offensive and aggressive
Toward members of other faiths
Toward people of no faith
They are offensive and worse than that
They are hostile and aggressive
And show disrespect to these non-Christians
And so the crèches come down at Christmas
No they are not allowed out in public
And now even the people
Out of respect for the Muslim sensibilities
Do not put up crèches in their front yards at Christmas
For they would show sensitivity to their neighbors
And when the Muslim stops what he is doing
Five times a day
Where ever he happens to be
And drops on his prayer mat
Be it at the office, be it on the street
No one thinks to object
No one finds this offensive
No one finds this aggressive nor hostile
On the contrary
The Muslim is praised for his faith and devotion
And no contradiction is seen
No double standard is seen
The people are oblivious
The people are in denial
They do not realize that they are the ones being aggressed
They do not realize that the hostility is not only
From the French to the Muslim in the form of fear
But also from the Muslim to the French in the form of anger
In the form of anger, in the form of rage
And yes, yes, one must admit it
One does not dare to admit it
Such thoughts are not permitted to be spoken
In the form of jealousy
For of course the Muslim is jealous of the European
He has for generations now blamed the European for all of his problems
He had blamed European colonialism
He had blamed European imperialism
But European colonialism and imperialism
Had disappeared from the Muslim nations
Decades and decades ago
And unfortunately life has only gotten worse for the Muslim
And truly he understands not why
- It is the Jew’s fault
Yes it is all their fault
If Israel did not exist
Then everything would be all right
And yet, somehow that answer does not satisfy all the Muslims
The poor and the uneducated
Especially those living close to Israel
Are able to be so convinced
For truly they feel the wrath of Israel
For truly they feel Israel’s hatred and contempt of them
And they internalize it
And they externalize it
And they manifest it
But those Moslems further away from Israel
Are forced to silently admit to themselves
That no, Israel is not the reason that their countries fare so poorly
And yes, the fact that the Americans pour millions of dollars
Into their countries each year
Yes just to pacify them
Rankles, it rankles, it humiliates
Especially since they seem to have almost nothing to show
For all these American dollars that have been pouring
Into their countries for how many years now
How many decades
It is humiliating
It is humiliating
It is humiliating
And the Muslim is left bewildered just why and how has he been left behind
And now the European has left the Muslim countries
And now the Muslim countries are poorer and worse off
Than they were when the hated colonials were in power
And now the American dollars keep pouring in
Year after year after year
And yet the money seems to evaporate
Where, who can tell
Into the pockets of the politicians in power one suspects
But one cannot be sure
And so the European leaving did not help the Muslim
And the American dollars do not help the Muslim
And now finally the Muslim gives up on his country
He leaves his country
Leave his country he does
And he goes to Europe
He goes to the land of the gods
The land of the white man
Who seem so all powerful, so civilized, so competent!
And he goes to this land and hopes to be converted into a European himself
But finds himself rejected
His swarthy skin, his thick accent give him away
He is not French; no he is not. And he never will be
And so he is confined to the ghetto
And he is treated with contempt
And he is not able to succeed in this land, in this Europe
And he is reminded yet once again that he is inferior
And he internalizes this self-knowledge
And he externalizes this self-knowledge
Yes, he is inferior
He had been inferior during the times of European colonialism
He has been inferior despite the massive infusion of the American dollar
He is inferior now in the land of the European
Even here where all the structures are already set in place, he is not able to succeed
He is inferior. He is inferior. He is inferior
There is no escaping this apparent fact
There is no accepting this apparent fact
And the Muslim rages. He rages. She rages for him.
They rage
They rage
They rage
And are helpless; helpless they are; for a long time they are helpless
They are helpless to construct
They are powerless to build a civilization of their own
They are helpless and powerless
Or at least they were
But there is strength in numbers
And if one is not able to do something oneself
One is powerless to do so
The decades and the centuries have demonstrated such
One may find that one can force others to do what they do not want to do
And so no the Muslim have no self-power
No power of his own to create
No power of his own to build
No power of his own to manifest
But he discovers to his surprise and to his amazement
That he does have power
Yes power he has
Albeit a very funny sort of power
A power granted to him by the wishy-washy European
Why they are not even men!
One can hardly even respect them!
And the jealousy of the Muslim toward the European
And the self-loathing of the Muslim due to his inability
To succeed in all these preceding generations
How many generations has it been since the Muslim nations
Have accomplished anything of note?
Too many
One does not want to think of such things
No, one does not
It is too humiliating
It is bitter
But now the Muslim has found his power
Finally, finally, finally the Muslim has power
And no it is not power to build
It is not power to create
No, the Muslim does not find a cure for cancer
But the Muslim is able to slowly, insidiously, and with great joy
Destroy the civilization that he had so always admired and envied
And yes he begins with religion
For the European is sensitive about religion
Hardly rational on this topic is the European
And the European had silenced his religious feeling a long time ago
Understanding that private spiritual experience
And public religious law were a dangerous and often fatal combination
And should the Muslim have begun their attack
On other aspects of European life
Say financial or political
The European reaction would have been quite different
Had the Muslim demanded communism for example
Their demand would have been immediately and firmly rejected
But the Muslim began with religion
And the European is weak in the knees on this topic
And the European allowed the Muslim his foot in the door
As it were
Via religion
And so no, crèches are no longer allowed at Christmas
And no, one does not say "Merry Christmas"; one says "Happy Holidays"
One is of course allowed to name the Muslim holy days
And the European take extra care to make sure to write articles in the media
Whenever there is a Muslim holy week
Ramadan is covered extensively with great explanation
Of what is entailed
And the European admiration of the daily fasting
Is greatly expounded upon in the media
No mention is made of the nightly feasting
And what begins continues
As the Muslim feeling of power grows
He is intoxicated by it
He is energized by it
- He is a man again!
His woman is proud of him again!
He has power! He has power! He can accomplish something
Yes he can
He can change the European way of life
And he does
He starts with religion
This is where he starts
But of course this is not where he ends
For this is the only power the Muslim knows
And he exercises his power
And he exercises his power
And he continues to exercise his power
And the European to keep the peace allows him to
Allows him to
Allows him to
And that is truly unfortunate
For when all is said and done
When the Muslim has completed his work
He looks around to his dismay
And finds that Europe now looks just like the countries
He has left behind
It is as poor. It is as dirty. It is as corrupt
Yes, it is as impotent
As the Arab countries he had left behind
And now what is the Muslim to do?
And now where is the Muslim to go?
And the Muslim grieves
In helplessness and in despair and in shame
He grieves
He grieves
He grieves
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