Unspoken misconceptions...

Hay y'all!  Tonight I am going to share an experience from yesterday, Pria's Birthday.  Hopefully this subject will get you thinking as it did us.  A potent subject point at this point in time.We had a little get together at the beach to celebrate the kid turning 6 and were having a great time.  About half way through the party, I walked up from the beach and adjacent to our party, a large group of people had also set up.  There was probably about 15-20 people of Middle Eastern origin with the women in full head-dress.  They, like us had food set up, laughing and seeming to be having a good time.Now, I don't consider myself racist or prejudice at all, however after some later conversation with my dear wife and reflection, I have to be honest and say I had some immediate thoughts upon seeing the group.  It probably sounds silly but I felt disappointed, a little frustrated and thought, in some way, they, by their mere presence were going to somehow ruin Pria's party.  I have no idea where these thoughts came from as I haven't had any particularly bad experience with Muslim people to arouse these thoughts.Upon arriving back at our party, I did my best to not let their presence affect my experience at our party.  Whilst watching them they were laughing, chatting, interacting positively and sharing food together, just like our gathering was.  After we had Pria's cake, one of the ladies came over to us with a large plate of beautiful watermelon and home made flat bread.  She was extremely kind, delightful in speech and giving.  Later, I found out that Corle, our two year old must have spotted they had juice and was asking for some.  Tegan did her best to keep Corle at our party however another of the ladies welcomed her over, gave her a big drink and Corle instantly had a new friend.  It took some effort on Tegs behalf to get the wild kid back to our shindig!  The rest of the party went fantastic, fun was had by all and we left (all be it with Corle screaming due to being so tired!)After some decent reflection and pondering of my thoughts, I am embarrassed to have had the initial reaction I did toward the what we found out were Turkish people.  Although I choose not to watch the news, read the paper and avoid headlines on the Internet, a certain level of fear, cautiousness and callus has been engrained within me.  This makes me so so very sad.  The family we interacted with were incredibly beautiful, caring and in every sense, just like us!  Funnily enough, Pastor Errol spoke of some of these points at Church this morning....more pondering ensued!I do not claim to know what the answer to the worlds problems are at the moment, however I know being afraid, reacting with hate, fighting violence with violence and treating those who look, sound and do things a little different to us are NOT part of the answer.  Hate only breeds hate.  Ultimately, love is the answer.Was the family we shared the morning with over compensating due to the state of things in the world at the moment?  Maybe, but I don't think so!  Their generosity seemed to be genuine and from the heart.  And, lets face it, even if they were being over nice, they went beyond what a lot of caucasian families would have done.I hope and pray that going forward my attitude and initial thoughts toward those different to myself (particularly muslim people) can be different.  Apart from the minority, I am sure that they love, cherish, respect and believe in many of the same values I do and do NOT deserve to be treated any differently just because of their dress, religion or ethnicity.I hope this blog has you thinking.  Remember the news is over-sensualised and whilst our world is facing some dark times at the moment, you can make a difference in your world.  I thank the family we spoke with for their generosity and friendliness and most of all, I thank them for challenging my thinking, helping me to grow and hopefully next time act and think with more love.Love is the answer friends.  Keep pursuing it, keep hope and positivity toward mankind.  We ALL have flaws and issues to deal with but we can do it together.  Division is not the answer.  I love y'all, spread it round and Ill catch ya soon!