It's a great honor for me to stand here in front of you all, with a heavy heart. As you all know we have been through a series of horrific events where one after another, innocent lives have been slaughtered without any reason. (high note) (base) I would like to thank in particular, Dr. Zaki, the District Superintend of the United Methodist Church for this thoughtfulness regarding tonight's vigil. Dr. Zaki thank you so much I think we should (stress) have these kinds of events because (stress) we need awareness, we need understanding, we need to broaden our minds,we need to create more interfaith and inter cultural harmony to embrace each other in the times of pain. comfort each other in the times of turmoil, surrounded each other in …show more content…
Our enemies make us feel that we cannot (stress) get along well,.but we all could prove that whether we come from a Christian, Muslim, Hindi ,Sikh, Jain, Presbyterian, Catholic, Lutheran or United Methodist backgrounds, we all are called to love each other, to support each other and to bring about peace and stability, using our gifts and talents that God Almighty has given to all of us. As many of you know that I grew up in Pakistan, I was raised in a Christian household, I know it's not easy to grow up as a Christian in Pakistan. but I also don't want to overlook the fact that my upbringing was by many Muslim teachers, mentors, professors, doctors, and neighbors at large. During my upbringing, I was loved and cared for by many Muslim teachers. I believe that they all get credit , when I see myself the way I am right now, standing in front of you. the painful reality is that there is a small portion of people who cannot see people of God in love and in support with each other and these cowards do these acts of terrorism to terrorize us, to make us feel that we are not strong ,to make us assume that they control us and our peace but I strongly believe that we can fight that and we can defeat them, we can fight them thorough education, we can fight them through enlightenment, and we can defeat them, by working through cross cultural understanding, and by promoting interfaith harmony among people from diverse