Ashes to ashes

It's Ash Wednesday today, and I spent part of the morning in church beginning my Lenten period.  While there, I began to really appreciate the benefits of a pluralistic society which also supports freedom of expression. The fact that I was in a church, freely worshipping, and would leave with ashes marking my forehead to go to malls, to the office, to banks with nobody batting an eye is something we take for granted. 

There are people who do not have this unconscious luxury. I have friends who tell of growing up under communist rule who had to hide their religious beliefs. Of not ever breathing a word about prayers that were said at home, for fear of reprisals.  Of the day when they were first allowed to freely worship in public, and how much it touched them.

And there are others who ridicule anyone whose beliefs or practices differ from their own.  Who want to destroy the different. Rarely are they overt about it, though, thankfully.  They refuse to accept that other views have validity. 

Freedom of expression allows the right to hold beliefs that vary from the main.  It does not mean that we are only free to express approved ideas.  It doesn't guarantee that nobody will be offended. It does allow questions, like "can you explain your ideas to me, please?" Or "how can I learn more?"  Perhaps we should make a deliberate attempt to learn something new everyday. We don't have to adopt everything we learn, but accepting that there are other ways to do things is a great way to advance peace in our lives. 

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