I was on YouTube the other day when I stumbled across this video made by Queen Rania of Jordan which was created recently as a dialogue for her to address people’s stereotypes of the Middle East. The first time I really heard of Queen Rania was when I watched the CNN Global Summit which aired in 2005 that focused around the issues of poverty, corruption, climate change and religious conflict. I tried to find video of the summit but unfortunately you have to pay for that therefore the best I could do was the following link. This summit was impressive on many different levels but because a woman of 35 could hold her own on the stage with the likes of former President Clinton.
Anyway within this video, the Queen of Jordan encourages YouTube users around the world to create video questions regarding the middle-east. I want to congratulate her for making such a huge step forward in helping people better understand the Middle East and the Islamic Faith. I believe many people around the world have misconceptions about Islam which seriously damages any potential cohesive society we might have in the future. These misconceptions are not only false but promote fear which is something we do not need in the modern ”Global Village” . Given current world events, I understand why many people believe that Muslim people are more likely to commit acts of terrorism than anyone else. You must understand that many of these people who commit acts of terrorism have suffered some sort of mental/physical grief that has caused them to hate in such a way (Thats my theory anyway).
This is not the religion of Islam but a perverted extremist version, while I am talking about Islam in the Middle East, this also applies to Christianity, Buddism and Judaism. There are a multitude of faiths out there and it is the responsibility of every person to accept each of these faiths as equally important to their own. In order to truly achieve some sort of peace in the world, we need to be more tolerant and understanding of the differences that exist amongst us while embracing these differences and forging a better path for tomorrow. Queen Rania has taken a positive step foward in trying to bridge the effort between the West and the Middle East and I hope that other people will take that same step in their lives to make an effort to understand the people that live around them and their respective cultures, beliefs and traditions.
