Hosai Mojaddidi – Our Children Are Looking for the Helpers

Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim in the name of God, the Most Gracious,

the Most Merciful. I greet you all with the universal greeting of

peace As Salam wa Alikum. What? Well, then again,

dear respected guests, esteemed panelists, and beloved community

members. I'd like to personally as well as on behalf of the MCC,

express my deepest gratitude to each and every one of you for

being here today.

Earlier this morning, I was at another local mosque, the San

Ramon Valley Islamic Center, where I spoke to a large group of middle

and high school students during their Sunday school program, about

this recent tragedy.

Prior to my talk, the students were given index cards and asked

to submit questions or comments about the attack, how they were

feeling, and their reflections in general. There were several

thoughtful comments and questions about the attack itself, the

motivations of the terrorists, the victims, and their families, their

suffering, and how we as a community can better protect

ourselves from future attacks. As I was going through each card, and

I looked at at their sweet and innocent faces, and how deeply

puzzled and conflicted they were, by how someone could do something

so heinous. I had to fight back my tears.

Our children have sad, have sadly inherited a world that is rife

with confusion, hatred, and violence. Their normal is nothing

like our normal when we were their age, we were busy being children

oblivious to the darkness of the world. While they are children who

have been born into it, and are surrounded by every day,

like ships that are sailing aimlessly and lost at sea, they

too, are desperately looking for the light. And that is why the

work that we do matters so much, whether we are fighting on the

frontlines of this battle politically, reaching people

through education and dialogue, or we're protecting the beautiful

souls that come to our respective spiritual centers for guidance. We

are all shining our light in one way or another. But when we come

together, as we are right now, in this moment, and in this sacred

space, and we put our lights together, we create a beautiful

kaleidoscope of different colors, and shapes that reflects stronger,

brighter and has a much farther reach.

When we stand together and speak in one unified and beautiful

voice, just as we have today, we effectively drown out all the

noise and ugliness born out of hatred and violence.

In the aftermath of these horrific events that have become far too

common in our broken world, we may not be first responders in the

technical sense, but we are certainly part of the triage team

spiritually speaking, many people look to us for strength for help,

and for healing. May God the Most Compassionate, the most merciful,

give us renewed and continued strength and patience to help as

many souls and heal as many hearts as we possibly can. I will end

with one of my favorite quotes from one of the most beloved

television personalities ever that we all know, Mr. Rogers, who once

said, When I was a boy, and I would see scary things in the

news, my mother would say to me, look for the helpers, you will

always find people who are helping. May God always count us

among the helpers, and may He increase our numbers so that our

light eclipses whatever darkness may come our way. Thank you and

may God bless you all.