Let's take a walk

I just finished reading Khaled Hosseini's third book "And the Mountains Echoed".  The first one was "The Kite Runner" and the second "A Thousand Splendid Suns".  I read all three.

Hosseini is a gifted writer.  To me what makes his books even better is the fact that they can teach us so much about a people who are literally and figuratively foreign to most Americans-Muslims. 

Every once in a while, either in print or on TV, I come across some ignorant big mouth ( I find it one of life's annoying ironies that ignorant people are often the loudest) explaining how all Muslim people have one goal in life.  That is to kill the infidel, aka us. 

Fox News among others seems to be especially fond of this view.

The idea that millions of Muslims the world over want to destroy us is of course ridiculous.  Like everything else  in religion or politics it's the extremist-or lunatic- fringe that is dangerous, not the mainstream.

To really understand this, it is necessary to learn a little about a given culture-or as it has been often stated-take a walk in someone else's shoes.  

Well, one way to do that, short of actually visiting the country,  is to read the fiction of that culture; hence, Khaled Hosseini's books. 

Read them or at least some of them.  You won't regret it.  As a bonus you will not only have a great read, but you'll also learn that the vast majority of the Muslim people are just like us.  They simply want to live peaceful, secure  lives with the people they love.