I have enjoyed your messages over the years, but with all due respect, strongly disagree with the building of a mosque or cultural centre so close to Ground Zero. why do we fail to recognize the feelings of those who disagree? Some of us still remember where we were that fateful day, and though not all muslims are terrorist, the 9/11 crime was done in the name of Islam, people cheered in the Arab world and it is painful to hear Americans who disagree being called haters and ignorant. I would be glad to share further especially after my 14-month assignment in southern Lebanon.

I am personally very torn about this issue, and am convinced that more good than harm will come out of it eventually. I worked with Daisy and Feisal when they were trying to build such a center at the 96th street mosque, but they were unsuccessful. The Kuwaiti control of the mosque, plus other building plans interfered with that vision. The concept was the same, a bazaar of ideas and people to build bridges and share knowledge. Then they tried other places, and finally got this location. It was a very lucky break for a visionary project that took so long to get a place! However, what they, and I did not anticipate that 9 years after 9/11 the hatred against Muslims has increased even more than it was right after 9/11, even though more Muslims are dying daily in revenge attacks in Afghanistan, and already died in Iraq. How does one explain that? How could they have foreseen that? I could not have even imagined this nightmare. We thought our work was good, and our intentions would transcend the differences.

My fervent wish is that this project serves everyone, it shows us all what hate looks like and how contagious it is. It shows us that we may call ourselves civilized, but we still hold on to grudges, no amount of revenge killings don’t soothe our souls, and we scream louder and louder as on Fox News. I actually hope that the builders do give up, but not yet. They should wait to show America how fragile its precious and unique foundations are, and how quickly enemies are made in a society that stops seeking knowledge, and how vicious the hate can be. Daisy had to listen to several 9/11 families just shout obscenities about our religion the other day, and she did as we all do every single day. I get up every single day and tell myself to grin and bear it. I tune out of the media because I know that it, like a hungry animal, needs a mega enemy, and the poor hapless Muslims of the world, suffering already, is all that they could come up with. May we wake up as human beings.

That will be a great lesson to learn from for the sake of America and the world.

As far as the mosque is concerned, I think it’s a well-intentioned but poor idea – largely because in the 9 years since 911, to my knowledge there has been no angry, visible action on the part of the larger Muslim community regarding terrorist action worldwide. In a way I can’t blame them, since they for the most part live under “off with their heads” regimes. But American Muslims, unless they’ve been completely stifled by the mainstream media, have been disturbingly silent. I think it’s fair to say that most Americans don’t know a Muslim and have never met one, and they have no reason to feel comfortable about a mosque/community center being a hop, skip and jump away from Ground Zero and it doesn’t stand a chance of enhancing communication and tolerance.

That said, even though 9/11 was a devastating blow to the US, what troubles me equally is that nearly 10 years after the fact, we still annually “celebrate” this attack as if terrorist attacks don’t happen, frequently, around the world. If Israel turned the site of every assault into a shrine, one’s feet couldn’t touch the ground anywhere in the country. At this stage in 9/11 history, it would be a good idea if we gave up on the “they hate us for our freedom” bullshit and better understand how American actions, followed by American cluelessness, contributed to the attack in the first place. The whole matter is an odd combination of misunderstanding and insensitivity. That mosque could be built virtually anywhere else and its message might have a passing chance of getting through. As it stands now, it’s little more than a slap in the face to those who have been given no legitimate reason to not feel offended. Timing – and placement – are everything in every endeavor to ease tensions rather than exacerbate them.

Re: tolerance, I have a series of midterm elections radio specials — focusing on “Race, Rage and Reconciliation” — that will look at the American journey using both social media and on-the-ground reporting, including from Arizona’s border. This will air in three segments on public radio across America between October 21 and November 4. More on that soon.

Enjoy your journey…