"The men in white"

I read the editorial "The men in white” (Parsiana, January 2004) and applaud any efforts by members of our community who try and bring our community together and close the huge rifts that exist. Going through the pages of this magazine, I was saddened to once again see the ferocity of arguments; the personal attacks on those who dare differ, the anger and viciousness with which people are behaving towards each other. It is obvious that it is our own interpretations of religious beliefs that are separating and dividing us, labeling us into ‘orthodox’ and ‘radicals.’ Once again it shows that instead of opening our hearts to encompass our whole community and extending our religion and its wise teachings to all who could greatly benefit from it, we are tending to close in, close out, exclude, expel and discriminate against any who don’t think exactly as we do, look the way we do, live the way we do and worship the way we do. Our small community is not in danger from outside threats as has been pointed out, but from within our own people! We are the ones who are raging against each other. We are the ones who are accusing fellow Zoroastrians of being ‘fanatics, betrayers, alarmists, no-gooders,’ and any other abusive name possible. We are our own worst enemies and are the ones who are doing ourselves maximum harm and eventually we will succeed in irreparably tearing ourselves apart.

From the beginning of history and until today, we see that the widest splits in communities, between and within nations, the nastiest, most cruel, and most violent wars are being fought in the name of a God who is defending each side exclusively. Each one proclaims to have God and the righteous on their side. Is it not ironic that the basic tenet of all religions teaches us that God is one, God is love, God is peace, and God is the Creator of all things and all beings? In theory we accept all this, but try putting it into practice in our own daily lives and all the universal and great attributes that we give to God, immediately fly out of the window. If we truly believe that God made us equal, in His image, that no one person or community is better than another in God’s eyes, that all paths ultimately lead to the same end, then why is it that we are fighting in order to prove ourselves the greatest and the best? "Ours is not the only way, ours is just another way.” Each religion claims to be the only true one, while fighting and killing other denominations, spreading violence and justifying these actions once again in God’s name. I truly wonder what God feels when He sees His children fighting amongst themselves, warring against their neighbors, killing and maiming, and in general, hell-bent in the process of annihilating the world He has created. I would strongly recommend a book I read recently The New Revelations by Neale Donald Walsch. He explains how and why we need to alter our beliefs if we are to change and save our world.

There is ultimately only one question each one needs to ask: ‘Would the God we pray to, prefer us to slander, divide, malign, and sometime even kill another in His name, or would He prefer that we live united, with love, with understanding and tolerance with each other? I know that the God I pray to would not turn away an innocent child because one parent is of a different religion from mine, but on the contrary would welcome a child who is brought into the fold with love. I know that my God would prefer two people who love each other and want to live together in love to be married, rather than two people of the same denomination who are married for the sole reason of continuing a community. I know that my God would not discriminate against anyone who is not the right color, or of the right religion, or that his beliefs are different from someone else. My God would not turn away a departed soul just because his body has not been disposed of in the ‘right’ way. God has given each one of us the power of choice, to decide for ourselves what is right for us — not what is right for someone else. Let each one of us look to ourselves first, before acting as judge and jury for others.

If we cannot live with each other in peace and love, we will teach this same negative behavior to our young who will continue their lives carrying our anger and prejudices. The sins of the father are visited on the son. They will in turn teach their own children to live in anger, mistrust and suspicion. We just have to look around us and we can see that the world is tearing itself apart with violence, hatred and intolerance and each one of us is individually responsible for initiating and spreading this flow of negativity if we persist in this kind of behavior. We must each carry the burden of evoking a future of untold violence and unhappiness for our children and grandchildren.

We need to start with ourselves. Love and accept our fellow Zoroastrians as a first step in living peacefully. That will have a ripple effect on our neighbors, community, country, nations and our world. We cannot change the world overnight, but we can change ourselves — today if we wish! Put into practice what we say aloud everyday in our prayers — good thoughts, good words and good deeds.

SHARON MADON

Surbiton, Surrey, UK