In this week since the Paris attacks,  I have listened and read much from all 'sides'.  That is essential to me.  I cannot speak to another's mind and heart if I do not attempt to understand it.

I also am not trying to choose sides but rather to seek truth.

And the truth is that many are afraid.

I DO understand the deep concerns....even the fear....not the hate....but the fear.

Yet, this world whisperer lands where she began.

(If you are a seeker, cut and paste the link at the end of the blog to go to a non-partisan Pulitzer Prize winning resource.)

 I am 68 so have lived deep and wide and loooong.

SOME of what I have experienced comes to me as I watch the current response to events in our world today.

The Chicago school system I was a part of as a child had drills where I was to hide under my desk cuz' the Russians were coming!

As the director of an inner city ministry, I ducked under my desk one night because there was a drive-by shooting by some African-American  teens...

...and soon after, a black woman stole my purse.

While working to make money for college, a group of Hispanic men messed with my car late at night so as to (unsuccessfully) frighten me away from work.

In one of the middle class suburbs where my husband was pastor, a white man stole my wallet and a white woman stole my car!

In Rwanda, African men with machine guns stood round our van at the border.

In Nicaragua, an airport worker ransacked my suitcase.

Apparently, I PERSONALLY should be afraid of Russians, teens, Hispanics, Blacks, men, women, Whites, Africans, Nicaraguans....

...and then there are those refugees with whom I have personally worked.

Some are Christian.

Some are not!

According to some, I am to be afraid of those who are not Christian.

Apparently, Christians are less likely to do anything for which I should feel fear.

O.M.G.

There are people in this world who do unthinkable things.

ABSOLUTELY!

Too many die because of these people and their unbalanced minds that make and wear bombs and can easily attain guns.

The fear that puts us back under that desk is the very fear that these unbalanced minds hope to unearth.

But what is ESSENTIAL to remember here is that MOST people do NOT have unbalanced minds and wear bombs and get guns and kill.

We must not forget that.

We must not let our children forget that.

THERE ARE WAY MORE Russians, teens, Hispanics, Blacks, men, women, Whites, Africans, Nicaraguans...

....refugees, be they Christian, Muslim, etc...

...who do good and seek good and...

...who simply want to find and build a safe place for themselves and those they love.

ONE (reportedly fake) PASSPORT that MIGHT belong to ONE terrorist is enough to pause that quest for safety for hundreds of thousands of children and those who love them?

I just don't get it.

I do not deny the obvious existence of something/someone to fear but how/who we aim that fear toward continues to puzzle me as it has since I was a child.

So, I land where I began.

I will stay informed.  I will use caution.  I will be prudent.  I will exercise wisdom.

But I, Cheryl Jean Stroder Bistayi, cannot personally justify allowing a few to fuel  fear of many in me.

The little girl AND granny who hid under her desk is not gonna' stay there.

Instead, she will stand up and reach as far and wide as her old body, mind and heart allow with the firm belief BASED ON LIFE EXPERIENCE that there are more who will reach back than not.

It has worked for her for 68 years and she will be damned if she is going to stop now.


http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/nov/19/politifact-sheet-5-questions-about-syrian-refugees/