How to distract people from the real issues
When I heard a group of Muslims was going to build a 13-story mosque at Ground Zero, I wondered how they got the permits. I know New York and I know it can take months, if not years, to get all your permits in a row.
Well, it turns out, the group wants to build a community center with a pool, a basketball court, a commercial kitchen for a culinary school and a place to pray. And it’s two blocks away from Ground Zero — it can’t even be seen from the site. It’s being built on the site of a building that’s been abandoned since 9/11, in a neighborhood that has suffered blight ever since the attacks.
The group’s imam, or prayer leader, has helped the FBI in its search for radical Muslims, and members of this group were among the innocents who died in the attacks. A few bad people in a religion doesn’t make the whole religion bad.
This is happening in the middle of Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslim year. During this month, Muslims fast from sunup to sundown. They break the fast with a prayer, and then eat a date before having a celebratory meal. I’ve observed a day of Ramadan with a group of Muslims and they were not bad people. In fact, it was one of the most deeply spiritual experiences of my life.
The imam of that group told me he believes people who commit terrorists acts are not religious people, but are people looking for their own power because they don’t understand the power of Allah.
So, why the outcry? It’s because the whole thing has been played to people’s emotions. There is no mosque at Ground Zero. It is a community center two blocks away in a blighted neighborhood that needs something good to happen in it.
In other words, this isn’t a real issue. I has been used to drum up emotions in advance of the midterm elections so people will be distracted from the dismal economy, the lack of jobs and the lack of transparency in the BP Gulf disaster — and in the lack of ability in Washington to get past political roadblocks and pass meaningful legislation to protect Americans from the likes of BP, predatory lenders and insurance companies.
Lobbyists still write laws, and big insurance is spending just as much money now — more, in fact — to buy the people who are writing the rules of health reform. The law left a lot open to interpretation by the Department of Health and Human Services and by the states, and lobbyists are wooing them now. It’s a lot less obvious, so it’s more difficult for us to stop.
Meanwhile, Republicans blocked the extension to unemployment insurance benefits, calling people who can’t find a job lazy as big businesses sit on tens of billions of dollars and big banks refuse to lend money to small businesses.
The worst oil spill in American history may have stopped gushing, but we don’t talk about the damage that will take decades to clean up because we’re all caught up in this fake “issue.”
We’re too busy talking about whether a group of people can practice their First Amendment rights two blocks from sacred ground. It isn’t an issue; it’s a distraction.
Let’s start talking about the mess in Washington and not be distracted by what Mike used to call a “shiny issue.”
Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
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