Many homes and churches around Ann Arbor have the one human family sign, welcoming the refugees and supporting our Muslim neighbors. I have mixed feelings regarding this sign, it feels good to know many people see us (PS: I am an Arab American Muslim, born in syria) as humans, but yet different.. which lead me to think, that what we fear most is the unknown, and in order for us to conquer our fear we should seek knowledge.. and that applies to all aspects of life, it applies to people, faiths, customs, etc.. only death stays the unconquerable mystery that none of us humans can know, so we fear it. During the last 20 years, misconceptions and ignorance about one particular faith, Islam, fueled fear, hatred, division.. wars and violence in the Middle East contributed badly as well, certain acts of terrorism, embraced by certain groups injured the image of many millions of innocent people of the Muslim faith, I don't argue that many muslims are poor, uneducated and ignorant of the real teaching of their faith. many confuse customs and habits with religion. Therefore they portray a bad image, same as of the people on the other end who are ignorant as well of anything outside their contained sphere, so it is easy for them to judge harshly and succumb to fear of the other, fear of other's customs or way of life, fear of other faiths, fear of those who are different in looks, in habits, fear of foreigners, of immigrants, of refugees.. we need to free ourselves and conquer our fear, by simply reading about others, meeting them as humans, understanding that politics is the reason for the wars and division, and bridging the differences.. when the British came to America, fleeing poverty andsome fleeting religious prosecution of the Catholics, we called them pioneers, when many Europeans and Jews fled the war, we called them immigrants and survivors.. why then are we calling the few hundred Syrians refugees? Branding them differently , telling them you are here temporarily. Why then did we bring them here to begin with? If not to help them live a better life, embrace them in the society.. the people we called refugees and refused to integrate in societies are the Palestinians, governments plead it is to keep their cause alive, not to make them forget their land.. keep the dream of returning home burning.. some of those Palestinians, were born and died, not being part of the counties the lived, loved, worked, married and had children in. Just to keep the cause, to make them miserable by not belonging.. imagine if we had kept the Irish in the states as refugees.. wouldn't that become a problem.. I believe the earth is big enough for all of us to live happily, if only we learn how to share and not to judge. I would like to talk more about faiths, about wars..maybe in my next post..