An Inspiration To All

Today the New York Times put up an article on Malika El Aroud, a Belgian woman who uses the internet to inspire others in the fight against the west. She says, "I have a weapon. It’s to write. It’s to speak out. That’s my jihad. You can do many things with words. Writing is also a bomb."

The article goes on to talk about the rise of women within radical Islam and how they are using this power to help Al Qaeda and others. It also talks of Ms. El Aroud's arrests in Switzerland and surveillance in Belgium for connections to attacks or planned attacks.

But she is right about one thing: writing is powerful. I am inspired and here is what I propose to do: I can NOT fear.

Fear is a temptation. You read of someone telling the west to order coffins for our husbands and sons and you get scared. That's someone I love. I want to protect them. But in the end fear is the first step towards hatred and it is the biggest step.

I cannot change decades of overbearing and damaging U.S. policy. I cannot apologize and expect that it will be accepted. I cannot offer flowers, any more than I could, as a white woman, walk into the worst ghettos in the United States and expect that because my intentions are good, I am somehow protected or absolved. That is naive.

What I can do is not be afraid, so the next time the big political machines come rolling into town crying, "Fear them! Fear them! Let's get them before they get us!" I can say no, I do not fear them, whoever the big danger is this time, and cast my vote accordingly.

And I cannot write words that will heal the breach between the Middle East and the West. Nothing I write will make a jihadist suddenly turn around and decide Americans might be okay. Let's call off the suicide bomb today. But maybe, just maybe, I can find powerful words to inspire my own people. Words that will help others to not fear and not listen when the powers-that-be start rallying, FEAR, FEAR, FEAR, and ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK. Words that will inspire governments and businesses to think about the policies they are creating and the enemies they have made with them.

I can dream. It's my blog.