**DISCLAIMER** I am a Blue Dog Democrat (albeit a thoughtful one) so telling me that I’m going to hell for voting for Obama or supporting him will get you put in my spam folder. You’re welcome to disagree with me in the comments but be polite.

I took part in the prayer and fasting on September 7th though my fast was from the Internet with the exception of email. The reasons for this were: I honestly could go all day without eating and not really think about it. My endocrinologist is also messing with my medications and I’d rather not be fasting while she uses me as her own personal science experiment. Giving up Internet was definitely something that caused me to think and ponder more than giving up food would have done.

Here are some musings that have come about as a result:

[+] I took a class called “The Making of the Modern Middle East” in college and it’s making me more determined than ever that we are completely screwed when it comes to the Middle East because it isn’t divided up in any rational fashion — it’s all about the oil. This means that ethnic groups and sects of Islam are not divided up by homelands but rather shoved together into nations that have no sense of unity. Syria is one of these places. Assad’s regime are Alawite Muslims which are an off-shoot of Shiite Muslims. The rebels are Sunni. Because of Assad’s regime being a minority (and being pretty repressive), other minorities enjoyed protection that they would likely not have otherwise.

[+] I want to vomit every time I see articles like this one because it means more deaths of Christians (already a persecuted group in the Middle East) and the destruction of parts of my religious heritage by people who have no freaking clue what they’re doing. It’s painful because I know that most Muslims in Syria are not going to hurt their Christian neighbors but the Al Qaeda freaks who have joined the rebels will. It also pains me because the image that many people in the United States will have is that all Muslims hate Christians which is totally inaccurate and a stereotype that I’ve been fighting for 12 years. I even had to call out a former co-worker over email today for forwarding an email denigrating people who buy the special Eid stamp from the postal service. I had other co-workers who called Muslims “rag heads” and I felt like stabbing my ears with screwdrivers. Islam is largely ethic and what it looks like highly depends on the group with which you are associating.

[+] I read this week about the members of the Black Democratic Caucus who are having a conflict of conscience over the Syria issue. On the one hand, they want to support Barack Obama. On the other hand, they’re morally against the military intervention. I was heartened to read about this because I needed the reminder that there are people in Congress who are actually voting on legislation based on their moral beliefs and not to be partisan in any form. I also had uncharitable thoughts about whether Republicans would support this if it was Mitt Romney as president suggesting it. It brought to mind Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress and the representative for Montana. She was one of 50 to vote against entering World War I and the only House member to vote against entering World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Her comment: “As a woman, I can’t go to war and I refuse to send anyone else.” Do we have people like that in Congress today?

[+] I was talking to my mom about this yesterday and she made an interesting comment that goes back to my first musing: “In the Middle East, there is no good side to be on.” If we arm the rebels, we’re creating another Taliban and Afghanistan. Bombing Syria to punish Assad for the chemical warfare attacks would just kill more innocent people who would be “collateral damage”, a term that I find repulsive. The correct answer diplomatically is pretty much working with other countries in the region to help but very few countries are willing to do so because it is such a volatile situation. There is no good answer, save working with the UN to do something but I don’t know how long we can tarry on that level.

In short, this is a situation where we really need to pray for peace and for our leaders to act judiciously and wisely. This means that all of us (including people who despise Barack Obama and want him out of office) need to pray for wisdom for him and for our lawmakers as they figure what to do (if anything).