Do the right thing

and that's what we should be doing more often. On many occasions we hear people and ourselves saying,"Follow your heart." "do as your heart tells you to do." "Do what's best for you." etc etc etc. Well it ain't really a bad thing, nor is it wrong to say such things. I mean, i myself have said such words previously.

But at a certain point, i found out that following your heart isn't always the best thing to do. Or should i say, isn't the RIGHT thing to do. The heart, the centre of our being, is an amazing thing. From our hearts, we express compassion, sympathy, love and such. Wonderful things. But, the heart isn't perfect. It has its flaws and limits. And it doesn't tell you the truth at all times. The heart, is like the mind, it can be influenced pretty easy if not guarded. But unlike the mind, the heart is a much stronger influence on us humans.

What i'm trying to say is, time after time, we have been making decisions, taking actions etc by following our instincts, following our heart and be guided by emotions. At times, it would be alright to do so. But for many times, by doing so, we have not been doing the right thing. Doing the right thing, is like the telling truth. It won't always be nice and easy. It won't be all roses for everyone. It can hurt. It can cause an adverse effect. But still...it is the right thing.

Pardon me for my writting skills aren't top drawer, and i don't seem to know where i'm going with this myself. Just a thought that crossed my mind.

A couple of days ago, the moslem world have been rocked by the cartoons depicting prophet mohammed in a danish newspaper, and since then being republished in papers in other western countries. Even the Sarawak tribune on it's saturday edition published a mini-scale version of the cartoon. The cartoon was reportedly depicting the prophet as carrying out violence (bombings etc) as a joke.

I would like to point out where i stand, first, i'm not a moslem and second, i'm not a pro-west person. Okay, it is insulting for one to publish publicly cartoons as such, that concerns religious elements. So yeah, while as a Christian i have seen illustrations/cartoons that jokes about the Christian faith, it doesn't really bother me to the extent of experiencing hatred. As different religion, maybe it's just normal for the moslems to react the way they are now. Invited guests (moslem personalities) on news channels have condemned the newspaper, and we also see news from the moslem nations where there are street protests etc etc.

Alright so they're pissed, that's understandable. But that led me to have some confusion about certain things. We all know what happened during 9-11 and its aftermath, the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq by Coalition troops (led by the United States). We all have watched the twin towers burning and the horrors that followed. In Iraq after the war, we all have watched innocent civilians, mostly westerners have been abducted by so-called 'freedom fighters' and terrorist groups on tv. And a few times, we have witnessed them being beheaded. All in the name of Jihad.

Understandably, the West and America especially have grown wary about the teaching of Jihad in the moslem faith. It is seen as inciting violence and so forth. And of course, moslems have voiced out that these westerners have misunderstood their religion. Islam is a religion that teaches peace, they say. Okay point taken.

Here's what i wanna say, i can bet that quite a few of those who are protesting about the cartoon have also celebrated publicly when 9-11 happened. When they saw that the "Great Satan" (United States) was attacked and the "infidels" at the twin towers died. And maybe some have been joyful (not publicly) when learning of western civilians in Iraq being killed/beheaded. Sorry, i just don't buy the idea that killing innocent cilivians, even as an act of vengeance can be considered as a righteous act.

So i ask this, if the religion does not teaches and condone violence, where are the protests?

PS: No, the US and european nations aren't Christian nations, they do not impose Christian laws nor do they have religious police to enforce the religious laws. And two wrongs don't make a right, peoples. I apologize if I have offended you, and i stress that i did not mean to offend anyone.

(please note that there were no name-callings and insulting words)