April 29, 2006

Upcoming United 93 Review

I saw United 93 last night. It's too late for me to finish the full review I'm working on. I will tell you I lasted until the plane went down into that Pennsylvania field. Only then did the tears well up in my eyes. That was when I was reminded those freedom fighters were the first to knowingly sacrifice themselves in the Islamist War.

For RightGirl the movie brought up a powerful emotion: hate.

The understading of what we were up against did not suddenly come to me on September 11th. It took months - probably till around the time of Bali, before I truly realized the evil we faced, and the direction it came from. But once I did, the seed began to grow. Some days I wonder how I have the strength to stand, the will to smile, the ability to carry on - when the hatred inside me burns to hot and so strong. Hatred. Unlike any I have known before. Hating three people is nothing compared to loathing an entire culture, religion, way of life. I tried to stop it. I tried to center myself, bring myself back from the edge. But I can't. And now I no longer want to. If the hatred is what will keep me focused on the defeat of those who wish to destroy the life we know, then that hatred is more than necessary.

As I watched the images on the screen, the repetition of Allahu Akbar - over and over - I became angry. I wanted to cover my ears. I wanted to scream out how that is not God, it is the devil!!! But when it was over, and I had walked a few minutes in the chilly midnight air, I became glad of that repetitive praying. I hope everyone sees the film and hears the calls to Allah. I hope that it grates on their nerves, too. I hope that each person who sees and hears the film is reminded why 3000 people died. Not because of US foreign policy, not because of oil or the decadence of Brittney Spears.

Three thousand people were murdered because of Allah.

Hate makes one do crazy things like hijack a plane and crash it into a skyscraper. But then we have one of Christ's toughest commands: Love thy neighbor as thyself. I have no answers to that conundrum. Loving someone who is working to destroy you and your society is certain suicide. Yet hating someone simply for worshipping Allah can't be a way to win the Islamist War.