Marine reservist Jasen Bruce was getting clothes out of his trunk when a bearded man in a robe approached him. (complete story) The man was asking for directions in broken English. Reservist Bruce attacked the man with a tire iron. The man ran. Bruce chased the man and called 911 on a cell phone. He told a 911 operator that he was chasing a terrorist. Unfortunately for all of us, reservist Bruce was not chasing a terrorist. He was chasing a man named Father Alexios Marakis. The priest was studying in our great country, working on his master’s thesis.
So my question is could this tragedy have been prevented? If the Marine reservist was better educated, would he have noticed that the robes were not those of Muslims? Would he have noticed any of a dozen things that would separate a Greek Orthodox priest from that of a Middle East Muslim?
Why should it matter if he was a Muslim? I thought America was proud of their values on freedom and rights. Honest to god I’m so sick of hearing in the media how person being interviewed happened to be a Muslim. People have become obsessed with trying to find stories that involve Muslims that it almost seems okay to profile them all into one category, “Terrorists”. Unfortunately for the majority of us who are moderates (Yes I’m Muslim, go figure?) this is making our lives miserable and intolerable. We share the same values, we share the same aspirations, we love our country, and we are proud of our culture. This is what America should be all about. I’m a student in Windsor, ON (Canada) and I will be graduating soon. I can only pray and hope that when I’ve completed my studies, that the world that I will be ready to take on will be more tolerant and open-minded.
Tolerate and open-minded. We can only hope.
Thanks for your comments.