Why I can't watch the election results until it's over

I know the network and news stations are pushing election predictions and polls right now.  Radio is probably doing pretty much the same.

That's why I have the Food Network on my TV while I work. No matter who you're cheering for in this presidential election, this race is too close to call. And the results matter too much for the country as a whole, and each person who lives here.

At this point, there is nothing I can do. I have voted. I have shared my views and the data on social media and among friends and family. I have watched debates, and declared winners and losers (and I have to admit, had fun mocking mistakes made by the candidate I did not support!)

But now the tension is too high. The stakes are too high. A jump here, a dip there and suddenly I would be elated or upset.

So with my civic duty done (as much as it can be as long as the electoral college remains in place), I will work and write my articles and get ready for tomorrow mornings's interview on YNN*.  And I will look up occasionally and watch someone show me a new way to cook carrots or make a pie crust.

Tonight is soon enough for me to be happy or upset.

What about you?  Are you watching or listening or checking online for polls and results?  Or are you waiting until it's all said and done? 

*Tomorrow, I am being interviewed on YNN Austin, and will be demonstrating how to make a 72-hour emergency kit for kids. Check the website after 9:30 CST to find the video!

And the hatred continues...

Yesterday in my e-mail I received a hate letter to all Muslims allegedly penned by a John Maniscalco, an American Airline pilot. A few minutes of investigating revealed that the letter was a hoax, and that their pilot by this name denies any involvement in it.

Michelle Simmons, customer relations representative for America Airlines, told BreakTheChain.org that they are investigating the matter, but have not yet found the letter's source. And that “On September 12th, our Chairman issued a statement to all American employees specifically stating that we would not tolerate hate of any kind at our Company. That statement remains true today."

And from Snopes.com, “The origins of "You Worry Me" remain murky — it first appeared on the Internet in June 2002, but attempts to verify whether its real author is an American Airlines pilot and/or someone named John Maniscalco have led to dead ends. “

The fact remains that someone wrote this piece…and here is my response. I hope you will read it…

To whomever penned this letter:

I wish I could say I understand and sympathize with your fears. But I do not.

I do not wish this because I want to share your fears and distrust, but so I could better address the many errors they represent.

Sadly, the facts and emotions you cite in your letter are born less of truth and understanding than of of paying attention to the ramblings of media talking heads who are paid to incite fear and distrust in the name of higher ratings and more expensive commercial rates.

You asked for answers...please allow me to humbly offer you a different perspective.

I would like to address your points one by one. For ease of following my response, I will be inserting my response into your original text in green. I challenge you ---all of you – to read to the end. Please.


YOU WORRY ME!" allegedly by American Airlines Pilot – Captain John Maniscalco

I've been trying to say this since 9-11, but you worry me. I wish you didn't. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country. But you don't blend in anymore. I notice you, and it worries me.

Did you know that the majority of the world's Muslim population is not Arabic? And that odds just as likely that the majority of people you are "noticing" as you move through your day are Jewish, Christian, Hindu, or Sikh? People of all faiths have been attacked and even killed on our streets since September 11th simply because someone "thought they looked Muslim." Did you know that the largest population of Muslims is in Indonesia, with significant numbers in India -- not Arabic countries at all?

I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now. I don't fully understand their grievances and hate, but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks.

The men who hijacked the planes on September 11th had spent the days before hand drinking and engaging in sexual activity with women. These are documented facts. They then killed thousands of innocent people.

As the killing of innocents and to a lesser extent, both alcohol use and extramarital sexual activity are strictly forbidden by the Qu'ran, clearly these men were not practicing Muslims, any more than the members of the IRA who bombs malls or Timothy McVey who bombed the building in Oklahoma are Christians, although they all claimed to be. And we do not brand the entire Christian community for the acts of Mr. McVey and his fellow mass murders who also attacked and killed our fellow citizens. Nor do we condemn all Irish people for the acts of IRA.

As for not understanding the basis for long standing dislike of the US among certain countries, please, please start with a basic review of history...of the many governments we have set up and armed in that region, only to bomb and destroy at will when the puppet governments no longer suit our purpose or play our game. I would refer you to the archives of the New York Times, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Miami Herald or any other major newspaper to read the news stories concerning our friends/foes in the Middle East and North Africa. You will be amazed at the vast discrepancies between what the news media reports today about the events and what was written at the time things actually happened.

This does not justify September 11th. Nothing does. But it answers your question about hatred.

Sadly most Americans are grossly uninformed about their own history, and thus are easily swayed by the media. Shame on us...we should know better.

On September 11, nineteen ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in my country. they cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. they took control of those planes and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children's mothers.

As stated above, the individuals were no more Muslim than McVey was a Christian. History is replete with examples of people who assumed a religious label to justify horrific acts of violence. Few religions have not seen this tragedy. We should be able to see through this guise by now. But it is still trotted out by power-hungry people worldwide and in every faith, and still used to justify hatred and retaliation against honest practitioners of the target faith. Shame on us...again, we should know better.

The Palestinians Celebrated, the Iraqis were overjoyed as was most of the Arab World. So, I notice you now. I don't want to be worried. I don't want to be
consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists. But I need your help. As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between you, and the Arab/Muslim terrorist.

After September 11th, did you approach your Muslim friends and neighbors to ask how they felt about the tragedy? Were they happy? Or were they as devastated as you? Did you start there when you were seeking answers?

Or could it be that you have never talked with a Muslim, except perhaps for a brief exchange in a business setting? Who are the Muslims in your neighborhood? Have you visited their homes? Invited them to yours? Shared a dinner? Gotten to know their children? Or are you relying on the sensationalist media to tell you who Muslims are and what they believe? There is hardly a person in this country who does not know that television is run on ratings...and that includes the news...and yet we are willing to swallow wholesale the "facts" they tell us and change our lives based on that "information." Why? Shame on us...it's time we considered the source before we believe anything

And once again, I need to point out that using the phrase "Arab/Muslim" as though the two are interchangeable is incorrect, as the majority of the world's Muslims are not Arabic, and many Arabs are not Muslim.

See the rest of the letter and my reply on To Be Continued ...

The world I don't know

I'm reading a book called Guests of the Sheik by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea. It's a book written back in the 1960's about a village in Southern Iraq. The author and her husband lived in the village as active participants in the day to day life...the book is a description of her experiences, and the learning process as she moves from being an American outsider to a member of the community.

The book is wonderful, but what has attracted my attention even more is the realization that despite being an avid reader and a fan of PBS and BBC and the Travel Channel and despite having a group of friends that covers most of the globe, I know almost nothing about most of the world.

I know facts, I know statistics, I can identify languages and cultures and practices in an academic way. But I have spent my entire life in North America. I've been to all the states, most of the provinces of Canada and both coasts of Mexico. I've lived in the Northeastern US, in the Rockies and in the South. And yes, there are marked differences between people in Colorado and people in NYC. But the differences pale when I consider the far greater contrast between the person in Boulder, Colorado and the person in a village in China. Or between that New Yorker and a family in a coastal town in Egypt.

So why haven't I traveled more? Or at least, traveled off this continent? The reasons are many...as a child, we did 3 week family vacations to the states and provinces, visiting museums and historic homes and resorts. In college, I had the money and the time to travel further, but I was so focused on fun and the beach and road trips with my sorority sisters and classmates that I never got around to hoping on that plane to Europe or South America or Russia the way I planned to.

Then came marriage and babies, and now I'm a single working mom of three, two living with me, one with his dad, and the days rush by in a blur.

I thought of myself as fairly cosmopolitan until the life experiences of my more globally experienced friends and the contents of this book woke me up to the reality that I know almost nothing about what it feels like to live outside of my western world view.

Like most Americans, I'm afraid that I've believed, somewhere deep inside, that what was here was all I really needed to see. I am ashamed of this revelation. My paltry accomplishments in learning about other places are nothing -- they are mere academic exercises.

This summer, my girls will be away, staying with their dad from June through mid August. Perhaps it is finally time for me to break free from my narrow world and live some of the things I have only read.

A second job for a few weeks when they leave could be enough to buy my first exposure to the world I don't know. I cannot wait!!