Reflection to Monday, the 5th

I am very glad our class had the opportunity to read the article on Omar Hammami, because I find these types of issues and stories really interesting. Looking at that young, innocent looking boy in a tux with his prom date on the front page of the article, I never would have expected, if I had went to school with him, that he would become what he is today. It makes me wonder what is going to happen to some of the people in my high school. Having parents with different religious beliefs, he began as a boy who abhored violence and the idea of killing. When he was around 8 years old, he had written something in his journal for class along the lines of,"I wish peace could just take over the world." Like for many other Muslims, his life changed after 9/11. But his changed radically. "It's difficult to believe a Muslim could have done this," he said. He told newspapers that he was shocked at the thought of a Muslim doing such a thing, and that there would be retaliation against Islam. He didn't understand why Muslims were getting all the blame in the first place. Eventually, it made him so angry, it got to the point that he started to support bin Laden, the Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Sharia Law. He became what is known as a fundamentalist, and practiced Islam rigorously to the point that his family, who had great dreams for him, had to throw him out. Today, he is is professing to launch attacks himself, and calling on others to join the fight. I find this whole thing extremely depressing. Religion is not meant to turn people into monsters, who live for killing. Unfortunately the idea of islam had changed so drastically, no one understands the whole idea behind is truly is peace; people have just ruined it. Being a Muslim myself, I know that our morals do not reflect on anything he is doing. We are seeing more and more evidence that Islam can turn some people into radical extremists.