Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • News
  • Features
  • Comment
  • Store
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Podcast Info
    • Hanania Podcast intro
    • Live Arab Radio
  • Your Views
  • Submit Press Release
  • Toggle search form
  • Imad Hamad Director American Human Rights Council
    AHRC Calls for Moral Consistency on Human Rights, Urges President Biden to Pause His Trip to Israel: American Arabs
  • The U.S.S. Liberty photo courtesy of the USS Liberty Veterans.
    Survivors of Israel’s strike on USS Liberty commemorate 55th year June 6 – 8 American Arabs
  • AHRC Logo new Feb 2021
    AHRC hosts an open meeting with TSA & community Activism
  • Former City Hall reporter Ray Hanania, ShawnTe Raines-Welch and Nick Kantas, candidates for Judge in the 4th SubCircuit, and Cook County Commissioner Frank Aguilar.
    Nearly 100 candidates, officials address Arab Democratic Club forum Sunday American Arabs
  • Citgo Gas Station and Quik Mart at 3759 W. Chicago Ave in Chicago ordered closed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot because a street gang member with an AK-47 killed someone in front of the store. Only Arab and Muslim stores are being closed by the Mayor
    Arabs and Muslim blast Mayor lightfoot for racist store closings American Arabs
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Chicago aldermen to host “forum” to explore Mayor Lightfoot’s racist crackdown on Arab stores Activism
  • Imam Jamal Saad leads the more than 1,000 muslim attendees in payer at SeatGeek Stadium's open grounds at the Eid al-Fitr celebration May 2, 2022 in Bridgeview
    Local Illinois officials join Chicagoland Muslims for Eid Celebration at SeatGeek stadium American Arabs
  • DCEO Panel discussion on business support opportunities for all businesses including Arab American businesses, April 26, 2022
    DCEO Access to Capital: Arab American Heritage Month business workshop American Arabs
  • DCEO Celebrates Arab American Heritage Month (AAHM) American Arabs
  • Alderman Raymond Lopez addresses the gathering at an Iftar hosted by Radi Abuhashish Thursday April 21, 2022 joined by Dr. Willie Wilson and other candidates for Chicago Mayor.
    Political candidates join local Arab leaders for Iftar Activism
  • U.S. Congressional Candidate Rob Cruz in the 6th District GOP Primary election June 28, 2022
    Republican Candidate for U.S. Congress, Rob Cruz, Opens a Dialogue with the Palestinian Community American Arabs
  • Peak Rock Capital affiliate completes acquisition of Ziyad Brothers, a leading provider of brander Middle Eastern and Mediterranean foods American Arabs
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Chicago aldermen to host forum on Arab businesses closed by Mayor Lightfoot American Arabs
  • April 24, 2022 Illinois DCEO American ArabChamber event
    American Arab Chamber and DCEO host online panel to help Arab Businesses secure funding Activism
  • Oussama Jammal presents Congresswoman Marie Newman with the Courage Award during the USCMO Annual Ramadan Iftar Dinner. Photo courtesy of Marie Newman Facebook Page
    Newman endorsed by major Arab and Muslim leaders Activism

IMAGINE a Thanksgiving of Real Peace: Paix, Salaam, Shalom

Posted on November 16, 2015November 16, 2015 By Eileen Fleming No Comments on IMAGINE a Thanksgiving of Real Peace: Paix, Salaam, Shalom
SHARE ...
          
 
  

  • Tweet

Thanksgiving season took a left to the liver on Friday night in the worst peacetime attack in France since World War Two.

By Eileen Fleming

Friday night in France three Islamic State jihadist cells coordinated near simultaneous attacks in bars, a concert hall and soccer stadium in unconscionable acts of revenge for French military action in Syria and Iraq.

France’s President described ISIS actions as “an act of war” and on Sunday French fighter jets dropped twenty bombs on ISIS sites in Raqqa, Syria and destroyed all targets.

Closer to home, on Sunday I attended ‘church’ at a neighborhood yoga studio which is surrounded by churches of many denominations.

Up until my first of eight trips to Israel Palestine I had been a ‘church lady’ and a youth Sunday school teacher. I never returned to that or any church after my first 16 Days in Israel Palestine because the Jesus I met in the Little Town of Bethlehem was a social justice radically nonviolent Palestinian devout Jewish road warrior who agitated Temple and State, which is NOT the Jesus preached about in USA churches.

However, I found a spiritual community and physical rehab center at my friendly neighborhood yoga studio. Yogi Gina’s Soulful Sunday class was attended by fifteen ‘strangers’ who united through focused attention on our own slow steady deep breathing holding the intention that we and “all beings everywhere are free and happy, even those we do not like and who do bad things” yogi Gina said and then this quote of John Lennon’s passed through me:

“Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”

I forgot all about Lennon and ISIS until the end of class, which always ends in Savasana or corpse pose.

Savasana/corpse pose


But on this Soulful Sunday, John Lennon’s IMAGINE concluded our class and overfilled me with gratitude for “the peace that passes all understanding” which I found through the practice of yoga, controlled breathing and meditation which is freeing me from a long held desired outcome: living to see the end of USA collusion in Israel’s nuclear deceptions and occupation of Palestine!


In this season of Thanksgivings I must express my gratitude for the friendship and mentoring of Dr. Khaled Diab: a 1948 Palestinian Muslim refugee from the Galilee whose life inspired KEEP HOPE ALIVE because he modeled what Jesus taught better than most Sunday go to church Christians I have known.

This Thanksgiving season I imagine there will be many more victims of violence in France and because of the millions of refugees fleeing Syria, Yemen and other countries to escape violence. Terrorists act to divide and misuse religion to instill fear and amplify hate.

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. warned:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence…The chain reaction of evil –hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars –must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

 

Book cover Photo copyright Meir Vanunu

When I wrote the last word in KEEP HOPE ALIVE my first and so far only fiction, my IMAGINARY friends: Riad, Jack, Terese, Jake, Kat and Brother Harold went silent; and that is when I began to write articles and non-fiction books.

What follows are my last words in KEEP HOPE ALIVE from the chapter ALL I’VE GOT [and it is!]

“Look, for years I was the proper Episcopalian wife and mother and did all the little things I saw to do and kept my mouth shut about all the injustice and hypocrisy around. But I wrote it all down in my Official Mead Composition Notebook for all these years and because a proper Episcopalian wife and mother does not say, much less think such things I wrote down, I had to burn them; they were too inflammatory! But ever since I switched to TOP FLIGHT Composition books out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, something has come over me. I must now give voice to the words that spill out of me, I must break silence.”

Jake groaned, “But do you see the road ahead of you, have you considered the cost? You have always been impulsive, but you went about it in a quiet unobtrusive and little way, you never caused a stir. Somethings changed and I think I want you to have a brain scan, you know, make sure you don’t have a lesion that is making you wackier than you have ever been before? If you check out Okay, then there has got to be another reason why an old woman who has the easiest life around wants to agitate the status quo. I wonder what are you getting out of it Terese, what motivates you old woman?”

Terese sighed then looked directly into Jakes cerulean eyes and softly spoke, “Let me play you another poem for I think it will answer your concerns.”

She picked up her red guitar then strummed the chords to “All Along the Watchtower” and began to sing just a breath above a whisper:


“All I’ve got is a red guitar, Three chords and The Truth.

All I’ve got is my bleedin’ heart, and a voice cryin’ out of the wilderness to you.

I see there is a way out of here,

A way to get some relief; listen to me for

I AM very small, I AM so very very small

So small as to indwell the heart of every atom,

Yet I AM beyond your comprehension.

Listen to me and hear Wisdom calling from the highest point of the city:

‘Wisdom has built her house and She calls to all; “Come, eat my food and drink my wine and you will live abundant life and walk in the ways of understanding’” [Proverbs 9: 4-6]

Wisdom calls; “I have built it; will you come? Do you have eyes to see and ears to hear?

Holy Wisdom, the Feminine Divinity: Hokema,

Who was with The Word from the very beginning

She is One with Him and He with Her

Pure Being; One God;

One Creator; One Lover of All the Human Family.

Brother, I see you lookin’ at me like you think I’ve skated off the edge and maybe I have,

What’s it to you? But let me tell a little story to illuminate you

 If you haven’t heard the one about the Rabbi Hillel,

Who lived 100 years before The Christ walked the earth

Let me tell you,

That wise Rabbi knew that the Hebrew understanding of Hokema; Holy Wisdom; The Feminine Divinity 

Was the same as the Greek understanding of The Logos: The Word

It was gospel Paul and John who first understood

The Word was good and

The Word was The Logos

The Word is The Christ

It was John on Rubber Soul who intuitively knew:

‘The Word is just The Way and The Word is Love’

Little children, listen to me and use your IMAGINATION,

Can’t you see that before Christ walked the earth a man,

He was already a She: Hokema, Holy Wisdom; the Feminine Divinity

And isn’t that Good News?


The God Head is One Pure Being; as much male as female as much mommy as daddy.

And we are all children of Her Universe;

And ‘He is the oldest personality because He is the origin of everything; And everything is born of Him. He is the supreme controller of the universe, the maintainer and instructor of humanity. He is smaller than the smallest.’-Bhagavad-Gita

He indwells the heart of every atom and She is beyond the Universe.

Wisdom is calling,

She is rattling your windows and shaking your walls

With some more good news of the

Three witnesses,

And three always beats one 

And not just that,

I’ve got a fourth!


Get out your Good Book sisters and brothers and chew on this; Matthew 12:31-32, Mark 3:28-29, and Luke 12:10 are simpatico with Gnostic Thomas saying 44:

Jesus said: ‘Whoever blasphemes against the father will be forgiven, whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either on earth or in heaven.’


Listen to me, God is within every sister, brother and all Creation,

Wake up to your own divinity and get a clue Christian:

His ways are not your ways and Her thoughts are not your thoughts

Dominion never meant to rape and plunder, but to nurture, care and love

And if you have not love, you have nothing at all!

And on that final day we all will stand naked before The Creator

And we have been warned that there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth by those who were so sure they were in, because they are the ones left out!


WAKE UP Christian and hear the wind begin to howl!”


Jake moaned, “You sound like a prophet and you know what happened to the prophets, right?”

Terese laughed, “Jake, remember John Belushi as Jake Blues in the good Blues Brothers movie? Remember when he kept saying: “I am on a mission from God?” That is exactly how I feel, I am on a mission to shake up the annual church talent show this year. I am doing something more than make the coffee and clear the tables, I am going to do my little poem and what do you think will happen?”

“I think you will get stoned.”

“Jake, I don’t care the least what anyone thinks of me as long as they do some thinking!  It is their apathy and passivity that I am confronting. Their luke-warmness makes me want to puke! I have no patience any longer with comfortable Christians[ they need to be agitated into deep thinking and doing The Beatitudes. Christ promised that the peacemakers are the children of God and he said that; “I came that you would have life to the full; abundant life.” And that takes thinking deep and action!”

“You may be half way to being a saint, Terese, for I am convinced that there are really only two sins; selfishness and being boring, and you certainly are not that.”-End of Keep Hope Alive]

 

Poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke wrote:

You must give birth to your images [imagination]. They are the future waiting to be born. Fear not the strangeness you feel. The future must enter you long before it happens. 

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Eileen Fleming
Senior Non-Arab Correspondent for TADN at The Arab Daily News
Senior Non-Arab Correspondent for The Arab Daily News
Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" who founded WeAreWideAwake.org in response to her first of 8 trips to both sides of The Wall in Palestine Israel.
In 2012, Eileen ran for US House of Representatives District 5, in Fl.
Read her FREE eBooks and more at:http://www.eileenfleming.org/
Latest posts by Eileen Fleming (see all)
  • Vanunu still has more nuclear secrets to spill, Israeli court declares - December 29, 2021
  • 9/11 and a 20th Reflection of That Day - September 5, 2021
  • Mordechai Vanunu: Final Annual Update and this Writers Next Steps - June 19, 2021

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
          
 
  
 
          
 
 Tweet 
American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Health, Palestine & Jordan, Video Tags:books, Christianity, Feminine Divinity, France, God, Gospel, ISIS, John Lennon, Judaism, Martin Luther King, Religion and Spirituality, Syria, Thanksgiviving, USA Israel Palestine, Yoga

Post navigation

Previous Post: Battle of Paris: the French capitol after the ISIS terror attacks
Next Post: Islamic way of dealing with ISIS Terrorism

Related Posts

  • 9/11 Sept. 11, 2001 logo memorial from the AHRC
    AHRC observes 19th Commemoration of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks American Arabs
  • Seven journalists injured by Israeli snipers in siege of Gaza Arab World
  • Israeli Spies and YouTube Gift from Vanunu Mordechai Arab World
  • Tarek Masood’s Life in Palestine: The first Winter Days Arab World
  • Justin Amash
    Palestinian American Congressman Amash becomes first Republican to call for Trump’s impeachment American Arabs
  • Obama, Kerry silent on murdered Gaza children, civilians in latest war crime Arab World

More Related Articles

Response to Israeli expert on whistleblowers and The Matter of Mordechai Vanunu Arab World
Jack Shaheen was one of the celebrities honoring former White House Dean and Journalist Helen Thomas at the 2011 Images and Perception Conferences hosted by activist Siham Awada Jaafar in Dearborn. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania American Arabs mourn passing of author Jack Shaheen American Arabs
AFC Salman’s FIFA candidacy puts integrity checks to the test Arab World
DHS reports less than 1 percent of travelers challenged at airports American Arabs
Analysis: Palestinian leadership not immune to change Arab World
2022 World Cup sparks labour reform, just not in Qatar Arab World

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Palestinian refugees forced to flee their homes at gunpoint by Jewish terrorist groups operating in Palestine in the 1930s, 1940s and after Israel was created on May 14, 1948. Photo courtesy of the United Nations
    Unresolved status of Palestinian rights makes UNRWA essential
    May 7, 2022
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • Hollywood Sign
    Will Smith violence takes Oscar protests to dangerous level
    March 31, 2022
  • Chicago's racist Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered more than 150 Arab owned stores closed in 2021 in a racist effort o fight street gang crimes
    Arab Daily News launches Arab American Network to fight racism
    March 12, 2022
  • NEWS
  • Imad Hamad Director American Human Rights Council
    AHRC Calls for Moral Consistency on Human Rights, Urges President Biden to Pause His Trip to Israel:
    May 24, 2022
  • The U.S.S. Liberty photo courtesy of the USS Liberty Veterans.
    Survivors of Israel’s strike on USS Liberty commemorate 55th year June 6 – 8
    May 23, 2022
  • AHRC Logo new Feb 2021
    AHRC hosts an open meeting with TSA & community
    May 19, 2022
  • Former City Hall reporter Ray Hanania, ShawnTe Raines-Welch and Nick Kantas, candidates for Judge in the 4th SubCircuit, and Cook County Commissioner Frank Aguilar.
    Nearly 100 candidates, officials address Arab Democratic Club forum Sunday
    May 15, 2022
  • NEWSWIRE
  • Imad Hamad Director American Human Rights Council
    AHRC Calls for Moral Consistency on Human Rights, Urges President Biden to Pause His Trip to Israel:
    May 24, 2022
  • The U.S.S. Liberty photo courtesy of the USS Liberty Veterans.
    Survivors of Israel’s strike on USS Liberty commemorate 55th year June 6 – 8
    May 23, 2022
  • AHRC Logo new Feb 2021
    AHRC hosts an open meeting with TSA & community
    May 19, 2022
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Chicago aldermen to host forum on Arab businesses closed by Mayor Lightfoot
    April 15, 2022

The Tabboun Column

The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
  • Tabboun
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    The Political Grapevine/The Tabboun, Friday Dec. 16, 2021
    December 16, 2021
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    Tabboun: Chicago remains strongest Palestine voice
    September 7, 2016
  • The Tabboun: Israeli human rights violations hit
    June 30, 2016
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    Tabboun: Himes questions troop deployment to Syria
    November 3, 2015
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    The Tabboun: Dearborn removes statue of racist former mayor
    September 29, 2015

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Sices-Ad.jpg
  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Ad-Pantry-essentials.jpg
  • ZiyadBrandLogo-2016BlackRedBackgrnd.jpg
  • HANANIA Arab News Op-Eds
  • Ukraine conflict gives Palestinians chance to redefine their conflict
    March 9, 2022
  • Mishmeshan PHC medical center destroyed in Syrian Government assaults. Photo courtesy of UOSSM Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations
    President Biden’s dyslexic policy in Syria is a mess
    October 20, 2021
  • Annissa Essaibi George and family
    Annissa Essaibi George faces “race hypocrisy” in campaign to be Boston Mayor
    October 20, 2021
  • Jerusalem image of Jews and Arabs walking together. Shutterstock. Courtesy of Arab News Newspaper
    Jewish Michigan lawmaker leads push for Two State Solution
    October 7, 2021
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib, book cover. Photo courtesy of Cune Press
    Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib
    November 1, 2021
  • Girl Fighters, new book on Yemen Book Cune Press
    New Book: Girl Fighters: Break Tradition in Yemen 
    October 25, 2021
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • American Arab CHamber President HassanNijem accepts the Proclamation from Chicago Ald. Roderick Sawyer at the Chamber dinner March 30, 2022
    Chicagoland celebrates Arab American Heritage Month
    March 31, 2022
  • Hollywood Sign
    Will Smith violence takes Oscar protests to dangerous level
    March 31, 2022
  • 03-30-22 Arab Chamber Heritage Month Flyer
    Arab Chamber to host Arab Heritage Month dinner March 30
    March 14, 2022
  • “Rupture”, the psychological thriller produced by MBC STUDIOS, has won Best Saudi Film at the 2021 Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF).
    MBC GROUP’s Rupture wins Best Saudi Film at the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival
    December 15, 2021
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
Arab News Newspaper Logo
Read the Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the MIddle East

Follow Ray Hanania at Gab.com, MeWe.com and IDobbinate.com, the alternatives to Facebook and Twitter Censorship.

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2022 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme