Mumbai attacks: "The Roar of Creation Resolves into Music" - R. Tagore

By UUA International Resources

Eboo Patel is the Director of Interfaith Youth Corp and was the Starr King School’s President’s Lecturer at General Assembly 2009. On December 1st he posted his reflections on the attacks in Mumbai to the Washington Post's "On Faith" blog.
My father's best childhood friend owns Joy Shoes in the Taj Hotel in Mumbai. When I come back here to the city of my birth, after making the rounds of extended family, I go see Remu. He's usually sitting at the counter working the phones - land line at one ear, mobile at the other - chatting with the regulars who come by to browse some of the finest shoes in India. We talk about what the artist MF Hussein (India's most famous painter, and a friend of Remu's) is up to, what concerts and plays are on tap that week in Mumbai, how life is changing under India's booming economy... (link)
Partners of the UU Holdeen India Program (UUHIP) are also responding to the attacks. The following message from Henri Tiphange, the Executive Director of People's Watch, is one example:
Dear friends across India and the world, We're all feeling the shock of the awful attacks in Mumbai. All our hearts go out to the victims and their families. The attacks were aimed at our people, our prosperity and our peace. But their top target was something else: our unity. If these attacks cause us to turn on each other in hatred and conflict, the terrorists will have won. They know that hatred and chaos feed on division. They also know they are radical extremists, and their only hope of reaching society as a whole is by turning the rest of us against each other. Let's deny them that victory. We're launching a message to extremists on all sides and all our political leaders, one that will soon be published in newspapers across India and Pakistan. The message is that these tactics aren't working, that we're more united than ever, united in our love and support to each other, and determined to work together to stop violent extremism. If millions of people sign it, our message will be unmistakable, click here to sign it and please forward it widely: It's time to speak out, let's do it together. Thanks & Regards, Henri Tiphange
(More than 55,000 people have signed on so far) Both IFYC and UUHIP partners are holding out a vision of hope, peace and action following the terrible events in Mumbai. May we embrace that vision also.

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