Dear Mr. Trump,
I understand that you take personal issues with Mexicans and Muslims. I realize that you may be saying the things you do to cater to a specific section of American voters.
I am NOT an American; I write as a concerned human being.
Fundamentalist Muslims, such as ISIS, use terror tactics to make others submit to them and their violent ways, and to create dissension, suspicion, strife and suffering in people — all people, including Muslims. What you are essentially suggesting is that the “land of the free and the home of the brave” give in to fears of such groups by isolating, segregating and profiling ALL Muslims, instead of providing relief to victims of such groups.
I have been a target of abuse by others based on a false stereotypical perception of me. Following your logic, I would have to brand ALL of my fellow Nepalese as bigots since I have been mistreated and discriminated by some of them. I must also do the same with the Brits for the same reason. Come to think of it, I would have to add the Aussies, the Azeris, the Vietnamese, the Cantonese, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Thais, the Qataris and a whole slew of other nationalities to the list. Heck, I must add even you and your fellow Americans to the list!
Except, I have also benefited incredibly from compassion and humanity throughout my life, everywhere from all people.
One particular incident stands out however.
About two-and-a-half-years ago, on May 1, 2013, I was jailed in Qatar for allegedly insulting Islam. An Arab-Muslim State in the Gulf, Qatar is an ally of the US and host to the biggest the US military base in the region. Luckily for me, on the eighth day of my incarceration, friends around the world initiated a Free Dorje Gurung campaign calling for my release on human rights grounds. On the strength of the campaign, I was freed within only four days of initiating the campaign and after spending just twelve days in jail.
I am certain that many of those who campaigned for my release did not do so because of who I was or wasn’t, or what I was or wasn’t. I believe that apart from the personal reasons for which my friends ran the campaign, the overwhelming reason for many was their belief in human rights and justice.
And you want to know something else? The campaigners also consisted of Muslim friends, Muslim acquaintances and other Muslims.
The reason behind that ordeal in Qatar was my nationality. But of course NO ONE can be and should be reduced to a stereotype, of any kind, including those responsible for my suffering — Arab Muslims.
I also believe that making others suffer for ones suffering — any suffering — does not alleviate ones own suffering, whatever the suffering. That, incidentally, is the reason for my NOT condemning all Qataris and/or all Muslims. I was and still am against the French bombing Syria after the recent Paris attacks for the same reason.
If we are to win this war against terror — against any group that might purportedly threaten not just American freedom and American “way of life”, but that which threatens humanity — your solutions won’t work. (Neither will France’s…of bombing Syria in retaliation.) Singling out any group — religious or otherwise — for exclusion and/or persecution at any time for any length of time, for any reason, will only breed more turmoil, cause more suffering, more resentment and more terror, for sure!
In case you are not aware, everything the US and its allies did earlier this century in the name of “War on Terror” has increased terror!
But, might I be so presumptuous as to suggest that, deep down inside, you don’t want more terror.
Might I also suggest you put yourself in the shoes of the “other” — a Muslim escaping the war in Syria or a Mexican escaping the strife in northern Mexico etc. — and find out how you would like to be viewed and treated. Then — and here’s the most important bit — act accordingly because that would be the compassionate thing to do, that would be the just course of action. I am certain, you can empathize; after all you are a human being. Studies have shown that even monkeys have the capacity for — and display — empathy!
Empathy and humanity will contribute towards freedom and security of the American people specifically, and towards understanding and a sustainable peace in the world in general.
If, for whatever reason, you are not able to empathize with others and don’t believe in a just world filled with humanity — then you might as well just retreat to one of your Trump Towers and leave that to us, to those of us who have faith in humanity.
Thank you.
Yours in empathy, peace and humanity,
Dorje
A fellow human being.
As true today as when written Dorje.