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Sunday, September 11, 2011

9/11 Poem - Rising up against the continuing calumny of the 'them and us' mentality

The Number that is 9/11 
(The Continuing Calumny of the Us and Them)
It is 8.31 in the morning,
I am writing this with
My 10 fingers shuffling
On 1 of my 2 laptops.

With my 2 eyes I see
4 chairs next to the kitchen table,
Not including the 1 chair
That I am actually sitting on.

Bibik just came down from upstairs
Carrying a basket of laundry,
1 of my brothers is still
Sleeping on the sofa
While upstairs my father
Is readying to come down
For breakfast.

Now 4 minutes have passed
Since I started writing,
And while many things are changing,
I am still me, and there is only 1 me.

9/11 is not just a number,
It will be remembered as the day
Hubris is enthroned as the false king.
And many people will commemorate the number
For the lives of people who died on that day,
And the chain reaction which led to the loss
Of even greater number of innocent lives.

But 9/11 is also a number,
And like all numbers
It is an aggregate of 1 -
The single totality which
Is the numeric definition of
Our one God, shared, praised and loved
By the 6 odd billion people on earth.

If we do not get this lesson from 9/11,
It is the saddest thing for all of us,
Because those who died on 9/11 and post 9/11
Are already saved.
But we are still here on life’s mortal shore,
And if we fail to learn unity
Despite our differences,
We will join the miserable host
Of those already dead in the heart
But still walking on this beautiful earth,
Unconscious to the loving embrace of the One God
Because they continue to think
In terms of ‘them and us.’

Have a thoughtful day, sunshine. I know you are one of God's own bright sparks of Love, Compassion and Tolerance. This day, like all days in this era of ours will be filled with hate, hubris, intolerance, envy and bigotry because that is the agenda of people misguided in their ideology and religion, whether they are sitting in a large news corporation, in a church, mosque or a synagogue, or peddling supremacy in the corridors of power.

But you and I, we are talking in the Language of Love. The language that for me at least, is taught by my Prophet Muhammad. Let us not quibble and argue as to who taught who what... is it not wonderful enough, and is it not a mark of God's continuing trust in humanity that we are even talking in the same language? Not from my own heart but through the lessons of history of the Prophets and the Saints do I give you the greeting of Divine Unity with one hand representing the Most Merciful and the other hand heralding the Most Compassionate. I am just a sinner, you are my better. Please lead me by your good examples...

There will be those who shall take this day for their own hateful ends, don't let them!

Pax Taufiqa.

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