Who do we consider patriots? You might be surprised...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/us/09muslim.html

"Lieutenant Monsoor died saving another American, yet he will never be remembered like Major Hasan, said Captain Rahman."

This is yet another example of an issue debated and lectured constantly in the media and elsewhere, but to little effect. As Americans, we often tend to label patriots. When I ask you to think of a soldier, what kind of image appears in your head? A Muslim? Doubtful. When I ask you to think of a terrorist, what comes to mind? Virginia Tech? Of course not.

For the longest time, Muslim extremist have tried to push this idea of Islam vs. The West upon the world, trying to sway the loyalties of Western Muslims. For the longest time, the American government has constantly insisted that this is not true, that the West is opposed to terrorism, not Islam. Yet... our actions and mindsets seem to betray that claim.

We only honor the Non-Muslim soldiers who go into Muslim countries and defeat terrorists. Nobody thinks of the brave and patriotic Muslim men and women who fight to defend our country's safety from violent people whose actions we must remember contradict their claim of faith. They surely go through much more conflict and face outside criticism than do other soldiers, because they are "betraying their own people," because they are "killing their brothers." It is not just disapproval from political opponents of the war, but from people from their own faith and culture. The wound is much deeper and the sacrifice greater when one's own community insults one's decision.

As the article explains, the Holy Qu'ran does condone war and killing, but only for a just cause of freeing the oppressed. So who is the truer Muslim? The Muslim soldier protecting his countrymen from terrorists or the Muslim terrorist killing innocent people "in the name of God" (now that's what I call using God's name in vain)?

We only remember to hate the Muslim terrorists that fear-inducing propaganda and an inner racism emphasize, only encouraging the terrorists on their supposed Islam vs. The West war. We don't think of the terrorists who perform school shootings, the terrorists who hold up banks or public transportation, the terrorists that we like to call "gangs," who kill innocent people in the name of their brotherhood. No one wants to play on our fear of mass shootings in order to encourage gun control and more regulations to prevent the wrong people from obtaining and using guns. No one wants to play on our fear of terrorism to accept Muslims more and stop the alienation, which would prove the terrorists right and breed more resentment towards the The West by western Muslims.

If we want to stop terrorism, then we must first stop proving their point and re-evaluate our perspectives. And maybe give the good Muslims some more appreciation and the terrorists less, because they only feed off of our fear and attention.