{"id":5493,"date":"2015-11-19T06:12:38","date_gmt":"2015-11-19T11:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=5493"},"modified":"2015-11-19T06:33:50","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T11:33:50","slug":"on-the-side-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=5493","title":{"rendered":"on the side of love"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/welcome-mat-on-doorstep.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-large wp-image-5495\" src=\"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/welcome-mat-on-doorstep-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"welcome-mat-on-doorstep\" width=\"654\" height=\"435\" \/><\/a>Which of the following images is most disturbingly etched in your mind?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A still shot outside the Bataclan theatre in Paris, where multiple victims of the radical Islamic terrorists lie. Or&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>A shot of a 3 year old refugee lying still on the shore, as he and his family fatally attempted to flee the terrorists in Syria.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Both are \u2014 in a phrase recently articulated here \u2014 by all means, awful. How are we to choose between the two? They are equally heartbreaking\u2026 equally awful. Each is evident of all that is <em>not<\/em>\u00a0good, <em>not<\/em> true, and <em>not<\/em> right in this world.<\/p>\n<p>In recent days, sadly, a &#8220;whole lot of awful&#8221; has entered into our national conversation. Shocked by the evil\u00a0on the streets of Paris and in the Egyptian air, we feel helpless; we haven\u2019t been able to halt the radical Islamic terrorists who are determined to destroy us. And so in our shock and horror, we react \u2014 sometimes positively, sometimes negatively, sometimes respectfully, sometimes not. Predictably, in our efforts to stop this obvious evil, we gasp and grasp for solution, yet we approach it from varied angles. We then are lured into\u00a0finding something new about which to argue, something fresh that divides, and finding fault in perceived,\u00a0opposing\u00a0perspective. The rhetorical battlefront is now how to handle the thousands of Syrian refugees attempting to flee their country\u2019s civil war. Should they stay or should they go?<\/p>\n<p>You will remember the scenario which was magnified late this past summer&#8230; Actually beginning in 2011, Syrians began\u00a0fleeing their country en masse as a means of survival, with over 300,000 refugees crossing into the European Union in the first half of 2015 alone. The story gained increased global attention when the lifeless body of 3 year old Aylan washed up on a Turkish shore. It was awful. The U.S. has thus sent more than $2.9 billion in aid so far, and along with multiple other countries, the U.S. announced we would welcome up to 10,000 refugees here in our land of the free and the brave. Sec. of State John Kerry then later announced that the administration &#8220;will increase the number of refugees the United States is willing to accept in 2017 to 100,000.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In Friday&#8217;s horrific incident in Paris, one of the terrorists possessed a passport from Syria. Just yesterday, in fact, Honduras detained 5 Syrian men with stolen Greek passports, reportedly heading for the United States. Hence, many are now concerned that in the mass welcoming of Syrian refugees on American soil, we will also inadvertently welcome some radical Islamic terrorists. Note that the terrorists have vowed to come here. Remember, too, that 9\/11 was executed by only 19 men. It is also admittedly difficult, according to FBI director James Comey, to accurately vet the massive number of current refugees.<\/p>\n<p>Let me state the bold, challenging, underlying reality\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Each of the above perspectives \u2014 both the <strong><em>laying out and withdrawing<\/em><\/strong> of the metaphorical, refugee welcome mat \u2014 is a position that <em>may be<\/em> motivated by compassion. One is moved most by the refugee in need of safety and security; the other is moved most to ensure the American citizen\u2019s safety and security. <strong>Both<\/strong> positions \u2014<em> as difficult and challenging as this is for many to see and admit <\/em>\u2014 are <strong>valid.<\/strong> Let me say this again:<em> both positions are valid.<\/em> Both may be motivated by love.\u00a0We would all like to be on the side of love.<\/p>\n<p>Want to know what gets my goat, so-to-speak?<\/p>\n<p>The person, legislator, or lawmaker \u2014 from either perspective \u2014 who says, <em>\u201cSide with me. I am right. Those other people don&#8217;t know what they&#8217;re talking about. They are motivated by the impure. I am looking out for all\u00a0people. I am the only one motivated by love.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The reality is that <em>each<\/em> perspective is looking out for <em>some<\/em> people. Thus\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Can we quit choosing?<\/li>\n<li>Can we quit taking sides?<\/li>\n<li>And can we quit labeling only one perspective as loving and compassionate?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Impure motives certainly exist on all sides of this equation. These motives include both fear-mongering and political posturing; they do <em>not<\/em> include caution and alertness. Let me also propose a related tangent that may be included in the impure motives:\u00a0(1) the desire to portray\u00a0<strong>all<\/strong>\u00a0Muslims\u00a0as\u00a0terrorists\u00a0\u2014 and (2) the desire to ignore the terrorists\u2019 motivation, which is\u00a0<strong>embedded within<\/strong> Islam. It is inaccurate to identify only one side as good and true and right.<\/p>\n<p>Hence, let\u2019s instead find a way to work together, respect opposing perspective, vet the refugees adequately, pause a little, assume some risk, recognize we can\u2019t eliminate all risk, and love all people well&#8230; domestic and abroad, both here and there. Let us never be heartless toward any. Let us also quit encouraging a clearly divisive, taking of sides.<\/p>\n<p>Respectfully\u2026<br \/>\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Which of the following images is most disturbingly etched in your mind? A still shot outside the Bataclan theatre in Paris, where multiple victims of the radical Islamic terrorists lie. Or&#8230; A shot of a 3 year old refugee lying still on the shore, as he and his family fatally attempted to flee the terrorists &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=5493\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;on the side of love&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[541],"class_list":["post-5493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event","category-current-issue","tag-syrian-refugees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5493"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5514,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5493\/revisions\/5514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}