Musing

Please change my work email address to my home email address at XXXX as soon as possible. Thanks Mark and great job!!!, KP, Calgary

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I believe that the single most important thing every conscious person can do is to attempt to live their lives so as not to contribute to the issues of intolerance and misunderstanding - I realize that this easy to say but not always easy to do successfully. One way to achieve this is for those of us with the luxury of time and a comfortable existence to avail ourselves of the opportunity to become informed. I think someone once said something like the cure for ignorance is education. To touch briefly on a contentious issue that has unfortunately played a major role in many past and present conflicts; I submit, with all due respect, that finding answers, solace and a life purpose in a religious viewpoint is only constructive if it is done in the context of realizing that no religion has a monopoly on Truth. No religion being practiced in the spirit of universal tolerance and understanding, as most claim they are, is wrong yet too often those who practice them pay lip-service to these concepts or ignore them altogether. As a personal example of religion at its best and worst: my son (now 17) and I have just experienced a very difficult year due to the sudden and unexpected breakdown of my 20 year marriage. The offering of sympathy and support to those in need is central to all major religions. During this past year my son and I have been the grateful recipients of emotional, financial and physical support from a diverse group of people that includes among others a Hindu man and his Sikh wife originally from India and a devout Muslim woman originally from Iraq. These wonderful people exemplify what leading a religious (or spiritual if you prefer) life is supposed to be. During the same year my son has been cut off by his father's very Christian family for no other reason then that he lives with me not his father. Our son has remained in regular contact with his father, who is at a loss to explain his family's treatment of their grandson/nephew. , BB, Calgary