Thou shalt not

Go figure: I'm in a Buddhist country that shares geography with one of the largest Muslim nations in the world (I'm on the Malay peninsula, so I somehow feel justified in claiming Indonesia as a neighbor), in a town with one of the oldest Buddhist sites in this Buddhist country, a town that shuts down for every Buddhist holiday because the streets become impassable and 90% of the businesses vacate.

Before one such day, I asked a senior faculty member who was born here and has lived here all her life if she knew of a good spot to watch the parades and processions. I received an extremely terse, "I am Christian! I not know such things!"

Then I asked someone, less senior, about the Quaran. I'm fascinated by its linguistic beauty, but I'm thrown by the historical aspects of its creation: at any given point, there seems to be one of four narrators who cycle without any narrative indicators, and I'm curious who's talking and to what audience.

Heh.

Just imagine walking around Texas wearing a banner that says, "Beware, infidel scum! Jihadi in Training!"

He really did seem like a nice enough, reasonable enough, reasoned enough guy.

I guess I should listen to the students during our morning patriotic/propaganda sessions: "The School Motto: The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom. The School Philosophy: Knowledge and Righteousness will Guide our Lives."

Fear, not questioning, of the Lord, with Righteousness, not inquiry or curiosity or investigation, will guide our lives.