Koran Burning Misguided

I may not be an influential world figure, but I just want to go on record as condemning the “International Burn a Koran Day,” organized by Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida.

It saddens me in the deepest possible way to think that this pastor fervently believes such a hateful act is the right thing to do. The pastor’s idea is that Islam is “of the devil” and must be challenged in an aggressive way. By planning this for the anniversary of September 11, he is obviously equating Islam with terrorism, which is ill-informed and harmful.

Burning the Korans is a way to express condemnation and disrespect for Islam, which is what he wants.  But I can’t understand how he thinks it will help to eradicate Islam, which is presumably his goal. On the contrary, his action could only have the effect of strengthening Muslims’ commitment to their religion. In addition, terrorists who are Muslim could point to this incident to prove their rightness in attacking the West—and that is the most dire outcome of this misguided action.

I pray that the pastor will change his mind and not go forward with his plans. However, he has already caused a lot of damage just by planning such an event. I hope that Muslims around the world recognize that he does not speak for most Americans, for most Christians, or for most of any other group.

I hope you'll join me in speaking up against these plans.

Solar Tour de Force

It is said that the sun rays falling on the earth in just one HOUR could supply the electricity needs of the whole world for one YEAR.

Tells you a lot about the enormous potential of solar energy. Of course sunlight needs to be captured and fed into electrical circuits, or stored. The good news is that advanced technology to do this already exists and is constantly pressing forward.

Maybe you’ve considered installing some solar panels or a solar hot water system on your roof (or mounted on the ground) but want to see something concrete first?

Just your luck, there’s a National Solar Tour coming up on October 2, 2010, sponsored by the ASES (American Solar Energy Society.) Hundreds of homes, businesses or public buildings with solar arrays will host a tour that day. You can see solar installations with your own eyes, get information, ask your questions.

For a tour close to you, visit http://www.ases.org/ and click on the icon for the National Solar Tour. Let me know how it goes!

Mother's Day for Peace

Julia Ward Howe is credited with first putting forth the idea for Mother’s Day in the U.S., which she called Mother’s Day for Peace. Appalled by the carnage of the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War, she proposed a women’s conference for peace. In her words, “We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."


I was amazed several years ago to learn of this original vision for Mother’s Day. It is exactly what I desire as a mother and as a human being, and it’s a beautiful way to celebrate Mother’s Day.

Here is the text of her Mother’s Day Proclamation, widely circulated in 1870.

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts,

Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!


Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country

To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.

It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,

Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

 Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means

Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,

But of God.


In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask

That a general congress of women without limit of nationality

May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient

And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,

To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,

The amicable settlement of international questions,

The great and general interests of peace.

Enemy Images in Politics

Since one of my themes is the harm caused by “enemy images,” I can’t ignore our collective backyard, that is, U.S. politics. Talk show host Dev Ulz-Advokit recently interviewed me about this topic:


D.U. What is the harm caused by Democrats and Republicans railing at each other like enemies? Doesn’t it spice up the news a bit?
T.I. Sure, it generates great entertainment, but it doesn’t make a great country. If we didn’t see each other as enemies, we’d listen to the other side’s legitimate concerns and incorporate them in wise policies, instead of simply posturing to make the other look bad.

D.U. But neither party is going to jettison its position on the issues. Why try?

T.I. The object is not to produce homogeneity. A democracy needs varying perspectives because each side brings up points that the other side may need to hear. For example, beneficial government programs need to be checked by concern for costs, waste and fraud. Military decision-makers need voices apprising them of effective nonmilitary alternatives. In the current health care debate, the moral imperative to provide health care for all needs to be balanced with economics and efficiency.

D.U. OK, so dissension is cool. What’s the problem then?
T.I. The problem is tone. Many debates are undermined when the speakers mischaracterize or ridicule the other side and/or its motives. Then more energy is going into attack and defend, than actual substance and problem-solving.

D.U. You heard that everyone: mischaracterization and ridicule are un-cool. But isn’t that the way of the world?
T.I. Maybe we all need to practice a new way. If Republicans and Democrats can’t even discuss the issues productively, how can we expect, say, the Israelis and Palestinians—who have a much deeper, visceral situation to address—to arrive at a peace agreement? Or the various Iraqi factions to chisel out a viable government?

D.U. Right. So is there anything the average Jane or Joe can do, or are you just blowing hot air?
T.I. We all contribute to the climate of the country, so yes, there is plenty an average person can do. Consider your words, watch your tone. Present your ideas without blaming, put-downs or ridicule. Talk to individuals of a different political persuasion from you and uncover their underlying, after-peeling-away-the-layers concerns and hopes.

D.U. And then what? Don’t leave us suspended.
T.I. Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if you found out their core values were about the same as yours—let me guess—they want security, freedom, fairness, respect and caring? Even if you disagree on how to manifest those values, at least you’ve discovered you’re both humans of the same species who can engage in a constructive conversation.

D.U. Well, thank you, Ms. Idrobo for speaking with me. Now, to our listeners, any dissension out there?

Half of a Yellow Sun

Stories can sometimes help us grasp a complex situation more readily than reading dry facts.

With the tragic cycle of killings and reprisals in Nigeria in the news, I was reminded of the novel Half of a Yellow Sun by Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. (2006) The novel takes place in the 1960’s before and during the failed war of secession of the Igbo people of the eastern region of Nigeria. The story unravels through the eyes of three characters—Ugwu, a peasant houseboy working for a revolutionary Igbo professor; Olanna, the girlfriend of the professor; and Richard, an Englishman living in the country who falls in love with Olanna’s twin sister. Their lives are interrupted and their loyalties tested by the bloody three-year civil war.

The novel is not only a gripping story of love and betrayal, but it will also clue in foreigners to the complex history, ethnic make-up, and class differences of Nigeria. Through the personal stories of Adichie’s compelling characters, we see the roots and immediate causes of the violence, and how the lives of peasants, intellectuals and the elite alike were affected.

I know much has changed in the past fifty years, but still the novel provides some background to understand modern-day Nigeria. Most importantly it brings the human dimension to readers who sometimes are numbed from all the statistics of death and violence in the world today.

Tears of the Desert

Some stories carry the power to grab attention and move people to action. Halima Bashir, in Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur, entices the reader into the heart of her village life where family is everything, where eating alone is considered worse than death. We’re with her through her “cutting time” (female circumcision)—a wrenching, inerasable scene—and as she confronts many hurdles to get an education and later become a physician.

Darfur becomes engulfed in war. One day Dr. Bashir treats forty young schoolgirls who were gang- raped by the Janjaweed. Their injuries are so severe she must stitch them without anesthesia to prevent them from bleeding to death. After recounting the horrific incident to foreigners, she herself is beaten and raped. Bashir is a tough woman, but caught up in an unspeakably brutal situation.

For years I’ve heard about the mind-boggling statistics of death and destruction in Darfur. I even got modestly involved in efforts to put international pressure to stop the violence there through SaveDarfur.org. But still, reading her story moved me like nothing before. How can I read this, I asked myself, and not try to do something, do something to help the people there?

That is the power of story.