La Crosse, La Crescent
I write this week from the middle of the United States, just east of the Mississippi River. As my family and I sailed north, we were mesmerized by the majesty of the Great River (as the name means in native American languages) and spectacular bluffs on each side of the river. Various smaller rivers fed into it and every intersection created deltas and marshes that were equally interesting in flora and fauna. We even got to see some bald eagles on the way.
It was especially charming when we passed by two towns with unusual names. On the east bank of the Mississippi, there was the city of La Crosse, in the state of Wisconsin. Opposite on the west bank was the city of Le Crescent, Minnesota, just four miles away. Other than the usual competition (and jokes) between the two neighbors, the two cities lived in harmony.
Coincidently, Harmony is the name of another neighboring city in southeastern Minnesota, which we also visited. Harmony is a center of the Amish community, a small minority with an unusual approach to modern life. This community has managed to preserve its values and unique way of life for centuries and has been tolerated, even welcomed, by its more mainstream neighbors.
I dwelt on these names as we sailed. I had more time to think about the matter as we got stuck on the boat for some time near a draw bridge not far from those towns. The bridge malfunctioned and could not open to let our boat pass, leaving it treading water for hours.
I thought what more great metaphors could be for peaceful coexistence and harmony between diverse groups such as Muslims and Christians than the names of these three cities? Regardless of the origins of their names or their etymologies, the fact of their proximity, friendship and thriving cultural and economic relations should be lessons to the two larger communities about the possibilities and benefits of dialogue and communication.
The people of these towns have expressed to us, informally, their desire to engage with their counterparts in our region. The city of La Crosse, for example, has twinned with several cities in Europe and Asia and proudly displays symbols of those close relationships and would certainly do the same with cities in Saudi Arabia or other GCC, Arab or Muslim countries.
At the time I was considering those possibilities, the news coming from Washington, DC, was that President Obama had hosted a Ramadan iftar on Aug. 10 at the White House for leaders of the Muslim American community. The president gave a thoughtful speech about America’s diversity and respect for minorities. In a column in Arab News two weeks ago, I wrote about the American constitution’s enlightened approach to diversity and respect for religious freedom. The First Amendment, in particular, represents one of the greatest contributions to the idea of human rights.
However, unusually for such a celebratory occasion, he dwelt on the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and addressed relatives of the victims of those attacks, some of who were invited to the White House to take part in the iftar. It seems as if the president wanted to deflect any potential objections from his political opponents for hosting this celebration, a tradition that predates his administration anyway. One clue to his digression was that the event was held near the apex of the election season and the White House may have wanted to preempt any Republican verbal attacks because of the celebration.
Having lived in the United States for decades, I know that during election times the worst in the nation bubbles up to the surface, as some desperate politicians would inevitably try to arouse the basest of emotions to draw attention to themselves or besmirch the names of their opponents. As the elections of both the President and Congress are less than three months away, this is the time to expect the worst of those campaigns, especially this year as the competition seemed quite tough between the two parties.
In spite of the political cycle and the economic difficult times that the country is going through, there are no anti-foreign campaigns to speak of. Judging from what I have seen during my travels in America over the past month, the president need not worry about the reaction of ordinary Americans to observing such a noble tradition as celebrating Ramadan in the White House.
Everywhere my family and I traveled in the US over the past several weeks, we met people who were tolerant, generous and kind. When they found out that we were from Saudi Arabia, they were invariably warm, welcoming and curious. This has been the case in every state and by almost every one we have encountered.
It is true that there are narrow-minded people in the US, as everywhere, and I have written about some of them in previous articles. The deadly attack last week by an extreme right-winger on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin that left six worshippers dead was a painful reminder of what lurks in the shadows of the extremist underworld. This incident took place a few hundred miles from where we were and came about a week after another attack on a movie theater in Colorado that killed 12 people. The latter incident did not seem to have a political motive, however.
However, extremists in both camps should not be allowed to set the agenda or define our dialogue terms of reference. I hope that Americans would no longer confuse the crazed (19) Muslims who attacked their country on Sept. 11, 2001 with the (300) million Arabs and (1.2) billion Muslims who did not.
At the same time, Muslims should not reduce America to its foreign policy or those aspects of it with which we do not agree. Once we do that, there is a lot in common that could be explored between the two sides. Ramadan and the coming Eid represent especially auspicious occasions for such dialogue.
- This article is exclusive to Arab News
